La bella musica
by GreenSoapRabbit
Summary: Edward wants to teach piano. Bella wants to be an author. Neither can afford distractions but they can't ignore their passions for music, nor their passions for each other. A Bella/Edward story with lots of great music and funny bits! Mmmm Lemons!
1. Bad Bad Girlfriend

**I'm new at this, this is the first time I've written any fan-fiction so be patient with me while I get myself organized! Thanks!**

**I don't own twilight or any of the characters.**

**EPOV**

"Jazz! Where the hell is he?" Emmett shouted from across the stage.

"What makes you think I have any fucking clue?" retorted Jasper, stooping to clear some of the cables to the side of the stage.

Emmett was usually nothing less than cheerful, if a bit crude, but at the moment his frustration with his missing guitarist was fast pushing him towards the edge of his patience.

"Just fucking find him! We're supposed to start in 10 minutes and if we don't play we don't get paid, and if we don't get paid then you're going to have to start hooking for the rent money."

"He doesn't have the ass for it" I called out, not looking up from my book, though I could practically feel the glares they were throwing at me.

I chuckled to myself as I leaned back against the tree I was sitting under next to the stage. I had only moved back to Seattle three days ago, and already knew I couldn't spend much longer living with my brothers. The band they had started 4 years ago wasn't a huge success, but the gigs that they did book were usually enough to keep a roof over their heads. I knew they were hoping I'd stick around and help with the rent.

"You could fucking help us Ed! If Jake doesn't show up we're not the only ones who are going to end up broke and homeless!" Jasper spat.

I sighed and closed my book with a snap, getting to my feet and adjusting my thick black glasses as I stared up at my increasingly irate brother who currently had both hands fisted in his blond hair, looking as if he were preparing to remove his own head.

"What do you want Jazz?" I huffed. I didn't like being dragged into all their band drama, especially since I knew Emmett and Jasper were desperate to get me to pick up my guitar again. I just wasn't ready to get back into that part of my life. I liked playing with Jazz and Emmett when we were kids in high school but, I had just finished getting my degree, and felt like I should finally be growing up, rather than hanging around pubs, and in this case, parks, playing guitar in my brothers "band". I had lost the passion for it, not for music but for performing. I just didn't have any inspiration or reason to sing.

Jasper rolled his eyes at me knowing exactly what I was thinking

"Jazz just call Bella, there's nothing Edward can do, he doesn't even know this song set. Bells only works a block from here, she can make it, and you know the crowd loves her!" Emmett shouted, as he dug his sticks out of his bag.

"Fine, but we already owe her big for saving our asses last time, and you know she's going to be pissed" he said, digging in his pocket and pulling out his cell.

He quickly punched in the number and put the phone to his ear, bouncing nervously on the balls of his feet.

"Bella!... Yeah, he didn't show…. Could you?..... Please…. Please Bells, we will so owe………………………. Well we'll owe you more then.. just PLEASE Bells!"

Emmett grinned as Jasper continued to beg into his phone. I didn't know their friends yet but I knew this chick had saved them a couple of times by filling in when Jake disappeared like he had now. Jacob Black was a complete tool, but admittedly a solid guitarist, however it didn't matter how good a guy was if he never showed up to play. Hopefully this incident would be enough to convince Jasper to kick his ass out.

"Tell her I'll finally let her have her way with me" Emmett said standing up and shooting him a wink. Jasper quickly held the phone away from his ear and winced.

"Great Em, piss her off when we need her!" he put the phone back to his ear. "Please Bells, Please!" he pleaded one last time, finally smiling and letting his breath out. "Thank you! I love you! You have 4 minutes, we're in the park!" he said, flipping his phone shut and shoving it back into his pants.

"She's on her way."

**BPOV**

"Thank you! I love you! You have 4 minutes, we're in the park!"

The phone went dead and I stared at it for a few seconds before getting to my feet.

"4 MINUTES? FUCK Jasper!" I yelled in frustration as I started grabbing my bag and shutting down my computer.

"ALICE!!!! ROSALIE!!!!! GET IN HERE" I screamed through the office, earning several irritated looks from my other co-workers.

My two best friends quickly ran around the corner into my office looking panicked.

"What?!" Alice choked out at me, quickly scanning me for some variant of a horrible stapler related injury. "What's wrong?!"

"The boys are in the park and need me in 4 minutes! Lets go you're coming with me………JAMES!!!!!!!!" I yelled without taking a breath.

My boss skidded into my office, also in a stat of wide eyed panic. "What the fuck Bella?"

"I've gotta go out, I'm taking the girls with me, we'll see you Monday.. BYE!" With that I quickly grabbed both of my ladies and ran past my eye rolling boss out of the office.

James was used to me running out on "emergency" calls, and generally scaring living hell out of the office when I did so. I worked as a book editor, a job not exactly known for its drama and excitement, but my life had a tendency to attract commotion, and whether it was my mother engaging in yet another dangerous project, my dog Sam breaking out of my apartment and attempting to eat my neighbors swing set, or Jazz & Em needing me to fill in for their ass hole band mate Jake, I was always getting calls and sprinting out of the office towards to newest impending disaster.

I burst out of the building into the evening sun light, Alice and Rose hot on my heels.

"What the fuck is going on?" Rose spat out from behind me as we ran towards the park.

"Jake didn't show up again, and the boys go on in like 3 minutes." I called back to her as I hopped over a grate in the sidewalk to avoid getting my heels caught.

As we rounded the corner I spotted Jazz and Emmett already set up on stage. Jasper already had his guitar on and was chatting with the crowd, trying to stall a bit as I ran towards them. I jumped up and waved my hand at him catching his eye as I sprinted towards him quickly unbuttoning my white button down and ripping it off, leaving myself in my black pencil skirt and dark blue silk camisole. Jasper waved back and turned to Emmett signaling him to start. I heard him count it out and then Jazz hit the first chord, loud and hard.

"Can they not fucking wait for you to get up there?" screamed Alice as we pelted towards the stage.

**EPOV**

"She's on her way."

I sat back against my tree and re-opened my book as Jasper and Emmett took their places on the stage, Jasper lifting the strap of his guitar over his head, as Emmett sat down behind his drums his sasquatch sized frame making the kit look almost small, and started spinning a stick around in his bear paw hands, showing his nerves. This gig was a big deal for them, even though it didn't look like much more than a small show in a park. There were 12 bands performing today and they were up first which was a big job in my opinion, opening to a cold crowd. They were getting paid a small fee for performing, but the main reason they were so edgy about this show was that it was rumored that a few label reps were going to be in the crowd to check out the talent, and even if it was only a rumor, Jazz and Em knew they couldn't fuck up this chance.

Jasper grabbed the mic stand and started chatting with the crowd that was starting to get listless. Alot of the people were still wearing business clothes, just getting out of the offices that surrounded the park. It seemed like a strange place and time to put on this kind of show, but for some reason the "festival" atmosphere seemed to be drawing people in. Bored office workers looking for some excitement to cap off the end of their day and start the weekend. Vendors were pulled up along the side of the park selling drinks and crappy cart food and more people seemed to be arriving with blankets and lawn chairs, ready to sit down and enjoy the show.

"We'll be getting going in a few minutes folks we're just waiting on my girl!" Jasper called into the microphone, getting a cheer from a small group of guys near the other side of the stage, who lifted their drinks into the air at Jazz, clearly a group that had heard them play before.

My girl? I hadn't know Jasper was dating the mysterious band saving Bella. It was good to know my brother had found someone in his life who he apparently cared enough for to call "his girl" but who could also save his pathetic guitar playing ass.

"There she is!" called Emmett, and Jaspers head snapped up.

He breathed a huge sigh of relief and waved his arm, quickly looking back at Emmett telling him to count them off. I couldn't see anyone in the crowd, and was confused. Why the fuck were they starting?

Emmett counted them off and both he and Jasper hit the first notes hard, the sound blaring out of the speakers next to me. I started to get to my feet, and as I did so, a blur of white skin and blue silk shot past me in extremely high heels and bounded up the stairs, her skirt pulled up high on her thighs allowing her to take two steps at a time. Two more blurs shot past me knocking me back into the tree stunned, and I watched as a short black haired pixie, and a tall blonde leapt onto the stage and quickly flanked the vision in blue silk.

Jasper and Emmett grinned as they continued to play the intro hard and loud, and I watched as Blondie lowered a bright red Gibson USA Robot Explorer over Blue Silk's head, and the pixie pulled the clip from the back of her hair and let it fall in a curtain of long mahogany waves. This must be Bella.

The Blond and the Pixie quickly retreated to the other side of the stage and jumped down, as Bella smiled, pulling the guitar up and started to rock out the melody, swinging her hips and flicking her hair over her shoulder. Jasper skidded towards her as she played and kissed her cheek, bumping his hip against hers before leaning back into the mic to sing.

"My Girlfriend's a dick magnet My Girlfriend's got a have it

She's hot, can't stop, up on stage, doing shots, Tip the man he'll

Ring the bell, get her drunk she'll scream like hell."

I watched transfixed as Bella spun on her heels, playing hard and fast, her eyes shut and a huge smile on her face. She leaned back as she twisted her hips, dancing seductively as she played. When she had first run past she resembled a classic librarian with her hair up high and her knee length pencil skirt. Now, with fire in her eyes, her hair loose and her skirt riding up around her thighs she did indeed scream "bad girlfriend". Jasper, that lucky bastard.

"She likes to shake her ass she grinds it to the beat

She likes to pull my hair when I make her grind her teeth

I like to strip her down she's mine until the end

You know what she is, no doubt about it

She's a bad, bad girlfriend!"

Jasper stepped back from the mic as Bella suddenly dropped to her knees in front of me on the stage. I hadn't realized how close I had crept up, but noticed it abruptly when she dropped down and I could see the tops of her stockings peeking out from under her hiked up skirt. She laid into her solo hard and my eyes went wide as I listened to her play. She was amazing, and I couldn't take my eyes off her. Unexpectedly her eyes flicked down to me and a smirk crossed her lips. She winked at me as she got back onto her heels and skidded back next to Jasper. I felt my breathing stop, and all the blood in my head suddenly rush downwards. Jasper, that lucky fucking bastard.

"She's a gold digger now you figure out it's over, pull the trigger.

Futures finished, there it went, savings gone,

The money spent

I look around and all I see is, no good, bad and ugly,

Man she's hot and fixed to be, the future

Ex-Miss Connolly! "

As the music went silent for a second, Jasper reached out and smacked Bella hard on the ass, and the next second, he was flat on his black with Bella's heel dug into his chest. She grinned down at him, and with him still on his back, they both hit the next chords as she leaned into the mic.

"I like to shake my ass I grind it to the beat

I like to pull his hair when he makes me grind my teeth

He likes to strip me down I'm his until the end

You know what I am, no doubt about it

I'm a bad, bad girlfriend!"

Jasper was back on his feet as they finished out the last few lines back to back. They hit the last notes and Bella leaned against Jaspers side breathing hard and smiling. The blonde and the pixie were jumping up and down and screaming near the other end of the stage. The crowd was going crazy, men yelling like rabid animals for the amazingly sexy woman up on stage. She stepped forward and flicked her pick high into the air. I watched as it flew down, and my hand shot out of its on volition and snagged the little piece of red plastic. I felt my heart start up again, and I took a step back from the stage, backing into the tree and sliding to the ground. Holy Fuck.

**Song – Bad Girlfriend by theory of a deadman**

**I'm going to try and do the whole picture thing... i've got a shot of the guitar as well as a photoshopped thing i did of edward with glasses.. but like i said i'm VERY new at this! haha! you can find the links in my profile**

**Please review, any tips or suggestions on how to not suck would be appreciated! Tootles! -GSR**


	2. Socially Retarded

**Here's chapter two! **

**For pictures, videos, song links, etc etc etc related to this chapter you can visit my blog (link in my profile)**

**Cheers! -GSR**

**I don't own twilight or any of the characters. **

**BPOV**

"I don't know why you had to bring Sam over, he was perfectly happy licking the springs under your couch!"

I laughed as Jasper continued to try and haul the 93 pounds of fur and love that was my sheep dog Sam up the stairs. Sam had a strong aversion to steps of any kind, and therefore insisted on being carried bridal style up any flight of stairs he came into contact with. I had even had an old dumbwaiter installed in the above garage apartment I lived in so I could get Sam up to our house without help.

"This dog has serious psychological issues Bella, how you ended up with a pet almost as socially retarded as you is beyond me"

"His pathetic-ness just called to me!" I shot back, grinning.

When I first saw Sam he had his head stuck between the bars of his kennel, as if he had tripped and gone head first through the cage door. It just seemed so much like something I would do that I couldn't even fathom leaving him behind. It took me and two shelter volunteers an hour and a half to get him unstuck from the cage door before I could finally take him home. I had fallen as I walked with him to my car, and I think at that moment he knew just as I did that we were meant for each other.

As we rounded the corner onto the forth flight of stairs my heel tipped under me and I flailed back dramatically barely catching the railing to save myself.

"Yep, these two are made for each other, okay Jazz you haul Sam, I've got Bells here" Emmett laughed as he grabbed me and tossed me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"You were like a fucking gymnast getting up on the stage today, and now you can barely handle a few flights of stairs?" Jazz asked quirking an eyebrow at me as he repositioned Sam in his arms.

"There's something about stages that make me graceful!" I said. "If I could walk around with my Gibson strapped to my back 24/7 I'd probably never get another cut, gash, bump, contusion, burn, etc again."

"But then you'd never get to go and get felt up but the "cute" ER docs at the hospital, that last one totally wanted to bone you!" Emmett said, squealing out the word "cute" like a pre-pubescent girl with a crush.

"Oh yeah, nothing screams fuck-a-ble like five stitches and a solid case of road-rash." I laughed.

"Five stitches?" asked Alice, "No, you got 13 last time, I remember because you made that stupid bakers dozen joke."

Emmett swung me around and pushed up my skirt making me squeak!

"Nope, five stitches just under her ass three weeks ago," he laughed showing Alice and Rosalie what I assumed to be the scarring evidence of my latest injury, "the guy almost couldn't stop laughing long enough to do them, said he had never done a set of ass stitches in his life."

I kicked Emmett as hard as I could in the chest and he set me down outside the door of the apartment, grinning wickedly apparently un-ruffled by my assault attempt.

"Jesus fuck Bella what did you do?" Rosalie asked obviously trying to hold in her laughter.

"Bike, mailbox, skirt, etc" I grumbled as I walked into the apartment, Sam close behind me.

"So that's why you spent all that time a couple of weeks ago kneeling in front of your desk," Alice laughed, "I thought you were training for some sort of BJ marathon or something."

I rolled my eyes and flopped down on the couch. "Okay can we move on from my ass and talk about what you guys are going to do about Jacob?".

"He's an amazing guitarist Bells, we can't just kick him out, these things happen" Jazz said setting down a dish of water for Sam.

"He's a douche-tastic guitarist yes, but I don't want him in the group anymore Jazz, he's always late if he shows at all." Emmett replied as Sam lapped greedily at the water and then dripped across the floor to his favorite spot in front of the spare bedroom where he flopped down and promptly went to sleep.

"I'm with Em, if you guys want to make anything out of this band you need to find someone who will take it seriously" Alice said as she sat down in Jaspers lap and started running her fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp. "I know he's good, but there are other good players out there, didn't you say Edward plays?"

"Yeah," he said "but Ed's made it clear countless times he's not interested in joining us. He's finished his degree now and wants to actually use it, which I get, but yeah, danm I wish he'd give it a chance."

"What does he do? I asked. I knew their brother had just moved in, a fact confirmed by the boxes stacked throughout the apartment.

"Music, but like writing and all that shit." Emmett yelled from the kitchen, "And he teaches piano lessons part time, he wants to open a studio and give lessons full time or something." He wandered back and handed me a red popsicle. "Your phallic icy treat milady, for a job well done."

I took it with a laugh at his cheesy joke and bit the tip off, watching Emmett wince theatrically.

"Hey where is Eddie boy anyway? I figured when we didn't find him after the show he had packed up and came back here" Emmett asked, looking around the room as if he expected his missing-in-action brother to pop out from behind the couch.

"Dunno," said Jazz, "probably off apartment hunting or something." He pulled Alice in close and started peppering her neck and shoulders with little kisses.

I rolled my eyes and slid off the couch away from them. "Come on guys, reign in the cute couple thing a bit… lonely single lady here remember!" I said, only partially joking.

Rosalie grabbed my arm and pulled me down into the big stuffed chair with her wrapping her arms around me and hugging me tight. "Aww Bells, you can be with me baby!" she said laughing as Emmett scowled at us from behind the counter in the kitchen.

"Oi, what about me?" he called, trying his best to look dejected.

"Don't try to pretend that you haven't pictured it babe" Rosalie said as I got back on my feet.

"You're hot baby, but I think you might be too much woman for me!" I said as I winked at her and walked towards the little stage set up the boys had in the corner. I grabbed my customary seat and pulled an acoustic guitar into my lap.

It didn't usually bother me being the fifth wheel in our group but there were the odd moments when it made me a little sad to see how happy the four of them were.

I had introduced them all and basically set up the couples about 6 months ago. I had met the girls at work when I started at Meyers Publishing roughly a year ago. I worked as a junior editor and generally spent my days reading crap manuscripts to determine whether or not they were worth passing on to someone higher up in the company. Alice worked in the design department, creating graphics for the covers and working with the book layouts, and Rosalie was an executive assistant, basically ruling the entire office, organizing and facilitating almost everything that went on from day to day. I was confident that if she ever left, the entire company would crumble behind her.

I had known the guys even longer, having met them through my ex boyfriend Mike. Mike worked as a bartender with Emmett at the pub down the street from the guy's place. After I broke up with Mike the boys basically decided to stand in as the male presence in my life, fixing things around my house, staring down drunk guys who would hit on me in bars, and generally acting as though they were my older brothers.

I had never been attracted to either of them; the closest we ever got to a relationship more than "just friends" was when I played the part of Jasper's pretend girlfriend on stage to earn extra tips. When I met and became friends with Rosalie and Alice, I eventually offered to let them move into the main part of my house, and the boys had helped us move them in and get me re-settled in the attached suite above the garage. Sparks had flown over moving boxes and packing peanuts, and they had all been together ever since, in fact I'm pretty sure Emmett and Rosalie had gone at it in the back of the moving van.

"So, why is your brother apartment hunting? I thought he was living here."

"He says there isn't enough room here, which I suppose will actually be the case when his piano gets here in a few days. It probably is best that he gets his own place" replied jasper, pushing Alice from behind as she crawled off his lap and came to join me on the make-shift stage.

"Ya," agreed Emmett, "plus I really don't want a bunch of little brats running through here and banging out renditions of Beethoven's 3rd or 7th or whatever while I'm trying to work."

"Yeah Em, because playing Rock Band is work," I laughed as I handed him his sticks.

He sat down at his drums and scowled at me, "It's PRACTICE Bells."

"Whatever, are we going to play or what?" I said, running my fingers over the strings of my guitar, checking the tone.

Rosalie grabbed another guitar and plugged it in, "Lets do that new thing you wrote and see if we can work the guys in."

"Kay Rosie, but let Jazz play Bass, you had a really good sub-melody picked out the other day that I liked."

Jasper hopped up and joined the rest of us grabbing his Bass. "Just tell me how you want it Bells!"

We spent the next hour working out the basic melodies and rhythm for the song, and it sounded good. I had written this a while ago but hadn't done anything with it save a basic acoustic tune. The girls and I would jam together a lot but we weren't a formal band, so it was rare that any of my songs actually came to a finished state.

"This sounds good" said Emmett, quickly writing a few notes on the yellow legal pad we used when we put songs together. "You know we wouldn't have a problem with our band if you ladies would just join us."

"You know that's not our thing Em, we're jammers, not performers…okay, lets try and put it all together! Jazz count us in please" I muttered as I re-adjusted one of the tuning pegs on my guitar.

Jasper resettled himself on the stool next to me and nodded his head.

"1,2,3,4…"

**EPOV**

I walked up the stairs feeling thoroughly dejected. Three apartments later and I still had absolutely no leads on a space. I wanted to find somewhere that would work for giving piano lessons, but so far everything was either in an awful neighborhood, had absolutely no parking near by or was just way to expensive. My parents had offered me a loan to help get me set up but I really wanted to do this all on my own. I had put myself through college without their money and I didn't want to start now.

I had already been in a horrible mood when I left the park earlier that evening. I didn't mind being single, but there were times when it would be nice to be with somebody, like now for instance when I had just recently discovered that both my brothers were in relationships. As Jasper and Emmett had finished playing this evening, the blonde chick I had seen earlier helping Bella ran up on stage and basically attempted to consume Emmett's face in front of everyone. Jasper had kissed Bella on the cheek again and then grabbed her and the little pixie, dragging them off the stage to disappear into the crowd.

"I'm happy for them" I muttered under my breath still climbing the stairs. And I was happy for them, well for Emmett at least. I pictured the girl Bella with her long brown hair and deep chocolaty eyes. I had sworn she was staring right back at me as she tossed her pick into the crowd. I could feel the little piece of plastic burning away in my back pocket.

Shaking my head I jogged up the last few stairs and came to a stop in front of the door, key in hand.

"Okay, lets try and put it all together! Jazz count us in please"

A feminine voice came from behind the door and I froze. Oh crap, she's here. I had already had to deal with one unfortunate below the belt situation as a reaction to my brothers girlfriend, I did not need this in my own, all be it, temporary home. I sighed, anchored my eyes firmly on my own feet, and let the door swing open.

"1,2,3,4.."

I heard Jasper count them off, and I peeked up to see them all sitting on stools on the makeshift stage. Bella and Jasper sat next to each other, Bella with an acoustic guitar, Jasper with a bass. The blond girl sat across from them with a white electric guitar, and Emmett was at the drums with the little pixie next to him holding a set of claves.

Bella looked up and saw me coming in the door, she looked surprised and then smiled at me as she started strumming her guitar and leaned towards the mic.

"_I know you sat alone so many nights waiting for me._

_Cold, your face like a stone, I hang up the phone when we disagree._

_Standing there by my side when the fighting is done,_

_glaring at me in the light is my little toy gun."_

Oh god. I dropped my bag on the floor and quickly shuffled past them into the kitchen. I didn't know what was wrong with me, I had never met this girl before but she was messing with my head. I know I hadn't been with anyone since my ex Jessica, but it wasn't as if I was feeling particularly starved for a woman's attention. This girl just kept surprising me. First she rocks out with Jazz and Em up on stage, teasing the crowd as if she were made of pure sex, and now here she sits in my apartment with her guitar looking almost innocent. She was wearing a white button down over the camisole from earlier and had kicked her heels off, pulling her bare feet up to rest on the bar of the stool.

I heard most of the instruments drop away and Bella's voice rang out clearer.

"_Wait for the day when I can save face and come to a happy home._

_I know it's turning me to the count of girl who'd rather be alone._

_Just wait till I get my way -- I promise you it won't be fun._

_If you feel like you should pray, pray for my little toy gun."_

When she entered the course simply crooning along with the melody, I almost lost it. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and darted past them towards my room to make my escape. Unfortunately there was a very large, very fluffy English sheep dog asleep in front of my door. I stopped in front of it and looked down confused. Since when did we have a fucking dog?

"Sorry! Sorry!" I heard Bella call out behind me. I hadn't noticed the music end, and suddenly she was by my side, so tiny in her bare feet she barely came up to my shoulder.

"Sam's mine, sorry he just likes to sleep in front of this door, it was never an issue before since no one has slept in here before."

She got down on her knees and started shoving on the furry beast.

"MOVE Sam!" she squeaked as he suddenly stood up and she fell forward in an untidy sprawl at my feet.

The huge dog loped towards Jasper and sat down at his feet, his big goofy head cocked to the side as if asking what Bella was doing on the floor.

Fuck…. What was this girl doing to me?

I leaned forward and grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feet in front of me. She brushed the hair out of her face as she pulled her fingers out of my grasp.

"I'm Bella, sorry about that," she muttered, blushing an extremely adorable pink color.

I scowled at her, hating her slightly for blushing at me, and making me want to run my finger tips across those cheek bones to try and feel the warmth there. Where did she get off blushing like that?

"Edward," I muttered back, re-adjusting my glare to the dog currently having his ears massaged by Jasper, who was looking at me with his brows knitted together, as if asking why I was being such an ass to his girlfriend.

Bella looked at me frowning, and took a step back. The pixie ran forward and skidded up next to Bella.

"And I'm Alice," she said, as if expecting the name to mean something to me, "and that's Rosalie" she pointed at the tall blonde now sitting on the couch with Emmett's arm around her.

"Nice to meet you," I mumbled again as I started backing towards my bedroom, "don't let me interrupt your practice, I'm going to bed."

And with that I stepped into my room and shut the door with a snap.

I flopped down on my bed and threw my glasses on top of the box I was using as a night table. I ground the palms of my hands into my eyes and groaned, infuriated with myself. I wasn't that guy, that "think with his dick" guy who became obsessed with anything in tight jeans. I didn't know this girl, she might be a good on guitar but she could still have the personality of an old sock.

"I've never heard an old sock sing like that." I muttered, turning onto my side and trying to block out the voices I could hear from the living room.

**BPOV**

"What the hell is his problem?" I asked turning to the guys in confusion.

"Dunno, sorry about that Bells. He does tend to be a bit of an overdramatic moody shit but he's not usually so straight up rude," Jasper apologized.

"Now I see why you guys never really talk to him," Rose said, patting Emmett on the stomach and curling into his side.

"He's not that bad Rosie," Emmet replied, squeezing her shoulder, "he basically spent the last 4 years at Dartmouth busting his ass to avoid taking a loan from the parentals, it didn't leave a lot of time for brotherly bonding. Plus I don't think he's been laid in like 2 years."

Emmett laughed at his own joke, "And you know how we Cullen men get without frequent attention from the ladies!" And with that he swung her up in his arms and high tailed it for his room, kicking the door shut behind them.

"SO I GUESS YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE HOME TONIGHT ROSIE?" I yelled through the closed door, receiving nothing more than a giggle in response.

"Alright, on that note, I think it's time for this little girl to go to bed" I said collecting my shoes from the stage and pulling them on.

"You'll stay tonight?" Jasper murmured softly in Alice's ear. She nodded and they both got to their feet and started towards his room.

"Do you mind if Sam stays here too Jazz?" I asked looking at my massive furry companion, unconscious on the floor.

"Sure Bells, he's more than welcome!" Jasper replied smiling down at Sam.

I grinned and opened the door, "G'night!" I called over my shoulder as I let myself out.

I as carefully made my way down the steps and out into the cool Seattle night. I couldn't help letting my mind wander back to Edward. I had recognized him from the performance in the park. He had caught my pick when I tossed into the crowd and had been directly in front of me as I played my solo. I had even winked at him, amused by his glazed over expression and thick nerdy glasses. He had seemed cute. Now I just couldn't figure out what his problem had been with me tonight.

When I had gotten to my feet in front of him after moving Sam out of his doorway he had been glaring daggers at me as if he hated my guts! I don't know what about my unwieldy sheep dog had made him so angry but he clearly had some sort of emotional damage or was just as socially retarded as myself.

I shook my head, trying to shake the image of those blazing green eyes out of my brain, but I couldn't seem to focus my mind on anything else at the moment. I slumped up the stairs and through the door of my little attached suite, kicking my shoes into the corner and flicking the switch on my desk lamp. My computer looked up at me as if with reproach, and I heaved an internal sigh. Another night and no writing done. If I ever wanted to get out from behind my editors desk and actually do some writing of my own I had to learn to be more dedicated. That was the reason I wouldn't let myself join Jasper and Emmett's band. I loved playing with them, but I already spent enough time NOT writing, and I needed to learn to buckle down and focus.

I turned the lamp off and walked towards my bedroom, pulling off my button down and dropping my skirt to the floor as I walked. I slid between the sheets in pair of white boy shorts and a red Elmo t-shirt and stared up at the ceiling where a pair of big green eyes looked back at me from behind a pair of smudged lenses.

**Song- Little Toy Gun by Honeyhoney**

**Review please! :) Any tips, suggestions etc would be appreciated! I want to learn and get better at this! **

**Don't forget to visit my blog for song links, pictures etc. Link available in my profile! Cheers! -GSR**


	3. Rain

**Okay so this chapter sort of got away from me! Sorry if it feels a bit long, but I had a few places I wanted to go and the trip just took a bit longer than I expected. Are we there yet?**

**I don't own twilight or any of the characters.**

**EPOV**

"_Edward, please….."_

_I ran my hands up the sides of her body, along the lengths of her arms, grasping her wrists in my one hand and holding them above her head. I walked her backwards, pinning her against the door of my bedroom. I let my other hand fall back down, across her breast to rest low on her stomach. _

"_Spread your legs Bella…"_

_She bit her lip as she closed her eyes and slowly slid her legs wider apart._

_I let my hand dip lower, running lightly along the edges of her panties, slowly creeping under the elastic and down. I could feel the heat there, so hot it nearly burned me, and I gently rubbed circles on her swollen clit, feeling her muscles tense beneath my touch._

"_Yessssss, Edward more… please!"_

_She jerked her wrists in my grasp and I smiled, nuzzling against the white column of her neck. I tightened my grasp and pulled my other hand from between her legs. _

_She whimpered and pressed her hips forward towards me. _

"_Fuck Edward, don't do this to me!"_

_I dropped my hands to her ass and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around me and I felt her tongue against my throat. I tossed her into the air and let her drop hard across the mattress. _

_She squeaked and looked up at me startled, and I quickly crawled over her crushing my lips to hers. I felt her fingers in my hair as she sucked my lower lip into her mouth, nipping at it with her teeth. _

_Fists crashed against the other side of my door and I looked over my shoulder towards the sounds of my irate brother. Was I really doing this? Did I really have his beautiful sexy girlfriend beneath me, half naked, begging for my touch?_

_Suddenly her tiny body wriggled from below me and I found myself on my back with Bella straddling my hips. She pressed herself down on me, making me groan._

"_Don't worry about him baby, you're the one I want."_

_She leaned down, letting her tongue side smoothly around the shell of my ear as she continued to grind against my aching erection._

"_Do you want me Edward?"_

"_Yes" I heard myself gasp, breathless with the need I felt for her._

_Suddenly the room went black, and a huge weight came down over my face. I tried to take a breath and couldn't, I thrashed forward trying to throw the weight off of me. Had Jasper made it through the door? Was he going to kill his own brother? Did I blame him? And where was my Bella?_

"Muuurrrrmphh!!!!!!!!!"

I felt myself come awake but the pressure was still hard against my face and I still couldn't breath! I struggled against the huge hairy weight on my head and chest, finally getting my arms free, and shoving hard.

I heard a yelp and Bella's huge fucking dog flopped onto the ground next to me. He righted himself quickly and shot me what could only be described as a "look".

"What? You fucking jump on my face and I'm getting attitude about it?"

I'm talking to a dog. Oh good, insanity. Well that'll be a nice change from constantly fantasizing about my brother's girlfriend.

Sam jumped back up on my bed and flopped down at my feet, letting out an exasperated huff.

"Tell me about it, and you know you could have waited till we were done in there… I'll never get to have her for real, the least you could do is allow me to get properly laid in my head."

I flopped back on my pillows and stared at my ceiling, feeling groggy and disgusting. Last night was probably the worst of my life, if I was being overdramatic about it.

After I had shut myself away from the group I laid on my bed and listened to them bitch about me. Jasper had apologized to Bella on my behalf, and Emmett had defended me to his girlfriend.

I had felt bad about not spending much time with my brothers over the last 4 years, but as Emmett had said, I had worked my ass off to get through school and handle my own debts. I would make it up to them now that I was done; I just needed time to get my feet under me.

I heard Bella ask if the dog could stay overnight too and then call good night as her little friend Alice left for the night. I heard Jasper lead Bella back to his bedroom and close the door.

I spent the rest of the night with my head thrust between two pillows desperately trying to block out every single noise emanating from the next room. No matter what I did though, I could still hear her, moaning _his_name, begging _him_ for more. At that moment, I hated my own brother, but mostly, I hated her.

When I finally managed to sleep she still wouldn't leave me alone. She waltzed into my brain with her beautiful hair falling loose over her shoulders, begging me to take her, and like a bastard who betrays his own useless shit of a brother, I did it.

Now, I was laying here with her massive dog asleep on my feet, and my morning wood silently mocking my lack of sense when it came to Bella. Fuck I didn't even know her god damned last name.

I shoved Sam off me with my free foot earning another "look", (was I personifying this dog a little much?) and got to my feet, rubbing my hands through my hair and staring down and my offending cock.

"Down!" I ordered it, "I've got nothing for you".

Sam looked at me confused and sat down at my feet.

"I didn't mean you," I muttered at him, grabbing my glasses and pulling on some worn jeans, a grey t-shirt, and my ratty chucks.

I pulled my door open and walked out into the living room. Emmet was curled up on the couch under a blanket shoveling a bowl of sugar-encrusted cereal into his mouth, his eyes glued to the cartoons on the TV. Jasper was hunched over the counter in the kitchen, bleary eyed, staring into his coffee cup as if half expecting a miniature Juan Valdez to emerge and perform a short interpretive dance.

"Morning Ed," Jasper mumbled at me, holding up an empty cup and raising his eyebrows at me.

I nodded and flopped down on an empty stool, holding my hand out for the coffee and looking around.

"Where's your girlfriend?"

I tried not to let the resentment I felt creep into my voice but apparently I was unsuccessful.

Jasper grinned at me, shoving the milk in my direction.

"Sorry about that man, when she gets going she ca…"

I held up my hand cutting him off, "Yeah I heard enough of it last night thanks."

He shrugged his shoulders and continued, "Her and Rosalie left early this morning; they had to pick up their instruments before they headed to the park."

"Park?"

"The girls spend every Saturday busking at Freeway Park, more for fun than anything but they usually make a pretty good chunk of change."

I nodded my head, and felt Sam's cold nose nudge my ankle as he whined up at me.

"How'd he get in my room this morning?" I said frowning down at the big mass of fur.

"He was crying for Bella this morning so Emmett shoved him in with you," Jasper laughed, "we thought you two could be moody together."

I scowled at him and leaned down to scratch Sam's ears.

"Why'd she leave him here anyway, seems a bit irresponsible."

"We take care of Sam all the time, I like having him around and it helps out Bells," he said hopping off his stool, and coming around to wrap his arms around the big dog, "she'll be picking him up at five tonight."

"Well what are we suppose to feed him, did she think of that?"

Jasper glared up at me. "What's your problem with Bells man? You don't even know her."

I shook my head at him and stood up to put my cup in the sink, "I don't have a problem with her I just want to know if we have anything the fucking beast can eat."

Jasper frowned at me and then shook it off, "We're out of kibble, but I think there's some leftover Chinese in the fridge, he can have that."

"HEY!" Emmett yelled from the couch, his head whipping around to glare at us, "that's mine!"

I rolled my eyes and headed back towards my room to grab a hoodie, "he can't eat that shit anyway Emmett, don't worry your food is safe. I'll go get him some dog food."

Sam followed me towards the door and looked up at me with hopeful eyes.

"What?" I asked, looking down at him.

"I think he wants to go with you man," Jasper said digging through a drawer in the kitchen. He found what he was looking for and tossed me a bright red leash.

I snagged it out of the air and attached it to Sam's collar, "Fine, come on dog."

I opened the door and started towards the stairs only to be jerked backwards, nearly off my feet. I looked back to see Sam with a mouth full of leash, his body braced as he pulled, trying to drag me back into the apartment.

"What the fuck dog, you wanted to come!"

"Stairs." Emmett called lazily from the couch.

"What?" I looked down at Sam as he dropped the leash from his mouth and sat down wagging his tail back and forth.

"You have to carry him, he's scared of the stairs" explained Jasper with a grin.

"Oh hell no," I said dropping the leash and starting back out the door.

Sam whined pathetically and slumped down onto the floor, laying his head at my feet and looking up with big sad eyes.

"Oh for crying out loud!" I said running my hand through my hair.

I leaned down and picked the massive dog up throwing him over my shoulders fireman style. I stood up and groaned under the weight.

"Yeah," said Jasper, "that's why he stayed here, Bells is too little to carry him up and down the stairs by herself."

I finally made it to the bottom of the steps and collapsed in a winded heap, leaning away from the massive head that was currently attempting to lick my face.

"He gets her, and I get you, I fucking love my life right now."

**BPOV**

"BELLA!"

I was standing in the middle of my room looking around wildly before I even realized I was awake and out of bed. Apparently my legs also weren't aware that we were awake because when I tried to take a step towards the shouting my knees gave out beneath me and I collapsed in a heap on the rug.

"So you're up then?" a cool voice spoke above me, and I looked up to see Rosalie grinning down at me, a laughing Alice bouncing behind her.

"Oh, you're home" I retorted, crawling back towards my bed on my hands and knees.

Alice grabbed my ankle and pulled me back causing me to fall forward onto my chest as she dragged me away from my warm, blanket covered safe haven.

"Get up and dressed!" she demanded pointing towards my closet "I want to get to the park early before that old clown with flaccid balloon animals steals our spot again."

"Shower first" I said, daring her to contradict me.

She glared down at me, her tiny fists on her hips and nodded. "Twenty minutes!"

I pulled myself up into a sitting position and glared at my two best friends. "You know when I moved into the apartment and gave you guys my house I thought it would mean a little more privacy."

Rose just laughed down at me and tossed me a towel. "What do you need privacy for Bells, it's not like you ever do anything worthy of us walking in on!"

"Ouch Rosie, that was cold," I said trying to arrange my features into a look of wounded pride.

In all actuality it did sting a little bit to hear her criticize my sex life. Alice and Rosalie were so out going, and exuberant that even before I had introduced them to Jasper and Emmett, they would come to the office with wild tales of their weekend exploits. I felt like the social equivalent of beige wallpaper next to them. That was why I wanted so desperately to be a writer. When I wrote, I could live out my fantasies and explore worlds that I was either too shy or not stupid enough to experience real life. Stage was another place where I felt different; I could take on a different persona, and let the music make me feel sexy and exciting. During my regular days though, I was just Bella, and in my opinion, Bella was no one to write home about.

"19 minutes 20 seconds" Alice called from the inside of my closet as she tossed random articles of clothing out onto my unmade bed.

I quickly hopped into the shower and was back sitting on my bed in a fluffy white towel 3 minutes later. Rosalie came at me with a hair dryer and a curling iron and some how managed to arrange my hair into a textured mass of waves and almost curls that had I attempted myself would have looked more like a birds nest.

"Put this on," Alice said, marching forward and thrusting a pair of jeans and a checkered tank top into my arms. I sighed resigned and pulled the jeans on, quickly stuffing my feet into a pair of blue converse sneakers before Alice could argue with me.

She eyed my feet, but didn't say anything as she quickly piled the rejected clothing options back into my closet.

Alice had always been the slightly fashion obsessed one in our little group, she always looked impeccable and today was no exception. She had on a cute low cut green plaid shirt and perfectly ripped denim. Rosalie looked equally gorgeous in an argyle tank top and roughed up jeans. I looked down at myself and was thankful for a moment that Alice had intervened before could crawl into my standard weekend hoodie and yoga pants.

Soon the three of us were out the door of our big white house, little red wagon full of instruments in tow.

"So did you guys get to chat with Jerk-ward this morning?" tucking my violin case under my arm and trying to take a sip of my coffee.

Rosalie and Alice looked back at me with quirked eyebrows.

"Jerk-ward?"

"Yeah, I mean what the fuck was his problem last night?"

Why the fuck was I asking about _him_ anyway? I didn't give a shit, even though I had spent the entire night flopping around in my bed unable to get his stupid face out of my head. It just bugged the hell out of me that he was so rude for no apparently reason, I didn't give a shit about him, it just wanted to know what his obnoxious deal was.

"Didn't see him this morning, we left before any of the boys were really awake," Alice said shooting me a look "Why do you care what his problem is?"

"I don't I just hate that he was such an ass!"

"He's hot though don't you think?" Rosalie grinned at me and raised her eyebrows, stealing my coffee and taking a sip.

"I don't know I didn't really notice." I could feel myself blushing slightly and shook my hair forward into my face.

"Oh ho, so our little Bella saw something she liked last night hmmm?" Alice practically danced around me giggling and grinning up at me.

I felt my self flush harder and suddenly I was back in high school, all I needed was my awkward uniform, a set of braces, and Tyler Crowleytrying to feel me up in the library stacks.

"What if I did, who gives a shit? He was such an bastard!"

"If I remember correctly," cut in Rosalie "he was a bit cold, but I don't really see what he did to earn the ever so creative nickname of _Jerk-ward_, seriously Bells, you want to be a writer?"

Great, mock my reaction to the guy, and then cut down my creative skills. I had great friends.

I awkwardly attempted to flip her off, dropping my coffee on the ground and splashing the bottoms of my jeans in the process.

"Okay," I sighed, "lets get moving before I find more new and interesting ways to make a mess of myself."

*~*~*~*~*~

When we arrived at the park there weren't very many people around, but slowly the music did attract decent crowd. We had brought quite a few different instruments with us ranging from my violin to Alice's clarinet and eventually Rosalie even rolled an empty oil barrel trashcan over to pound on as a temporary percussion section.

By the time we wrapped up late in the day we had earned roughly 300 dollars in tips and a few phone numbers from the boys playing ultimate Frisbee near by.

"Sometimes I don't know why we don't just become a real band, or join the boys for that matter!" Rosalie said distractedly as we sat packing up our instruments.

"If you want to join the boys go right ahead, but you know I don't want to get tied down to that sort of commitment."

"Yeah Bells I know, but your writing doesn't always have to be about books and what not, your lyrics are amazing, you should give that side of you a chance to grow!"

"My songs aren't anything serious Ali, they're just for fun when I want to relax."

"I still think they have more value than you realize," she said closing her Clarinet case with a little snap "writing is writing, creativity is creativity, expression is expression!"

"Yeah yeah, " I muttered.

My songs weren't anything real, they were just little bits of nothing that relaxed me; I couldn't build my life around them.

"Okay ladies, I don't like the look of the sky, the Seattle weather has been strangely kind to us today, but I don't think it will last much longer," I said shivering as I looking up at the ominous black clouds.

"I still have to pick up Sammy before we can call it a night."

"Why don't Rosie and I head back to the house and start supper while you go get Sam and the boys" Alice said standing up and packing the last of our stuff into the little red wagon we used to haul instruments. "Board games, movies, popcorn and drinks, etcetera!"

"Yeah, maybe Edward will come" Rosalie said grinning at me.

"I hate you," I said, shooting her a fake glare, "Okay I'll see you girls in about an hour."

**EPOV**

After finding the pet store early in the morning, I had sat with Sam on an old bus bench, letting him have some breakfast straight out of the bag.

I didn't feel like heading home yet and Sam seemed perfectly content to spend the day roaming the city with me.

"You know, I'm not usually this stupid when it comes to women" I said to him as we walked down a long street full of old shops and little cafes.

He perked his ears up and gave me what I had decided to view as an _understanding look_.

"I only dated one girl when I was in college, but I didn't let her get to me this way, I never obsessed over her! Of course that could have been because she was a miserable human being but still… I.. she… and now…"

Even talking to a dog I couldn't get my thoughts out in a coherent fashion.

Sighing, we continued up the street in a companionable silence, which I think Sam preferred.

I rolled my life around in my head as we walked. I needed to stop making myself crazy worrying about unavailable women. I was finished college now and it was time to start my life, my real life. I had taught piano all through school to help pay for my tuition and books, and even with all my education in composition and classical performance, I knew that teaching was what I wanted to do. I needed to get myself set up with a proper space and find some new students.

I had already looked at several apartments but so far nothing I had seen would work. It needed to be a reasonably large space to accommodate my piano, and give me room to separate my living space from my working space. Back in college it was fine to give lessons with my dirty laundry sitting in a pile next to the bed but if I was really going to make teaching my life I needed a more professional set up.

Sam jerked to a sudden stop and whined excitedly at me. We were on a little tree-lined street with residential houses and a few tiny shops that sold things like trinkets and stationary.

Sam pulled on his leash towards the opposite side of the street and ended up swinging me around to face an old brick building with boarded up windows.

It was a bright red brick building with three stories, the windows were shattered, the trees out front were dead and I could just imagine what a nightmare the inside would be. There was a phone number written on a piece of dirty cardboard nailed to the boards covering the downstairs windows and doors.

I quickly typed the number into my phone, wondering if I was crazy. I hadn't thought about finding a commercial space, because I knew I couldn't afford both an apartment and a studio but, this place was basically in a residential area, who was to say I couldn't live upstairs.

I started to daydream about my baby grand sitting in a brick walled studio with a real office in the back and a waiting area at the front of the shop.

Sam pulled be back into realty as he yanked me partially off the side walk towards the other side of the street. I looked up to see a large white house with a garage and stairs leading up to what I assumed to be an attached apartment. This neighborhood seemed to be primarily students and professionals. It was quiet, and despite the run down appearance of this building, the surrounding shops were in good repair and things seemed safe.

When I checked my watch I realized that we had been out walking for over four hours. I pulled Sam back onto the sidewalk and started tugging him back down the street towards home.

"This could be fucking perfect!"

*~*~*~*~

When I got home and finished lugging Sam back up the stairs to the apartment I entered to find it empty.

As we walked in a loud clap of thunder crashed outside and shook the glass in the windows sending Sam scrambling towards my room.

"Looks like we made it home just in time" I called to Sam, seeing a note lying on the kitchen counter.

_Took the van over to the girls place to borrow their garage, will probably spend the night. – J & E_

I crumpled the note up in my fist and chucked it towards the trash, "Guess it's just you and me tonight dog."

I kicked my shoes into the corner and headed towards the bathroom to take a hot shower. Finishing up quickly, I pulled on a pair of plaid pajama pants, enjoying being able to walk around in just pants without my brothers cracking Abercrombie jokes. I went to the window and leaned against the frame watching the rain pelt the concrete below. I liked the rain, it seemed to switch the city off and make things quiet and peaceful.

Turning my back on the rain and spotted one of Jaspers guitars lying against the couch. Picking it up I let my fingers fall onto the strings and pick out a few quiet notes. Another clap of thunder crashed through the apartment, and I settled onto the couch with the guitar, enjoying the storm.

A short while later I was jerked out of my absent-minded strumming by a loud banging on the door followed by yet another epic round of thunder.

I tossed the guitar aside and pushed myself to my feet, padding towards the door. I heard Sam whine from beneath the covers on my bed where he had taken refuge from the storm.

"I don't know what you're so scared of dog it's just thunder!" I called, pulling the door open.

"N-n-e-either of us like s-s-torms, ne-e-ver have."

Bella looked up at me from a puddle in the hallway, her hair soaked and streaming down her back.

I froze taking in her soaked tank top, dark jeans, and squishing sneakers. I must have stood that way for a while because she huffed and shoved past me into the apartment, her dripping hair brushing against my chest as she moved.

I closed my eyes and tried to take a breath. Focus Edward; just get her in and out fast. Focus. My skin had broken out into goose bumps at her touch and I shivered in my response to her.

"I'm he-e-e-re to pi-c-c-k up S-a-a-m" she chattered.

Hearing her voice, Sam poked his head out or my room, only to make a quick retreat when the thunder crashed again seeming to shake the floorboards. The wind was picking up and was starting to howl outside, this storm was turning truly vicious.

I saw Bella clench her jaw and flinch against the noise, her eyes wide and panicked looking. Even terrified and soaked she was beautiful. Seeing her so vulnerable made me want to wrap her in my arms and take care of her, and that thought made me furious again. I hated being an ass hole to anyone but she left me with no options, I could either step back and glare at her, or else I was going to start kissing her eyes and trying to feed her soup.

She straightened her spine and did her best to look authoritative, glaring up at me.

"I re-e-ally n-n-eed to get home, where's Jazz and Em-m-mett?" The tough façade she clung to slipped and her voice seemed to shake from more than just the cold.

"They're not here, they went over to your place to use your garage."

Her eyes dropped slightly and seemed to slide out of focus for a second, before she shook her head and stiffened her posture.

"Oh, well I just need to get Sam, and then I'll go" she said spinning around and spraying water droplets around the room before squelching into my bedroom.

I ran through the door a second later to find her down on her knees, her tiny ass sticking up in the air as she peered under the bed.

I think I must have groaned at the sight because her head jerked up and she banged her head on the frame of the bed.

"FUCKING OW, SHIT FREAKING HELL!"

I couldn't help a small smile at the profanities issuing from beneath my bed, but I quickly re-arranged my features when she turned and glared at me over her shoulder.

"Are you going to help me or just stand there and look thick?"

I fixed my glasses and crossed my arms over my chest. Good, her being a bitch would make this easier.

"I'd watch who I was calling _thick_ considering the fact that the dog you're trying to pull out from under that bed is hiding in the closet."

She whirled around to stare at the closet where Sam had his furry ass wedged in between another few boxes and my gym bag.

Stomping over to him, she grabbed him by the collar and heaved him out into the room just to be knocked off her feet when yet another huge rumble of thunder shook the windows and caused Sam to hurtle through the door and into the living room.

She cowered for a second on the floor clapping her small hands over her ears and looking terrified.

I sighed and grabbed her by the shoulders pulling her to her feet. Another crash echoed around us and she crushed herself against my bare chest clinging to my sides. She smelled like rain and lilacs and the feel of her chilled damp skin made my own prickle and burn where she touched me.

She came to her self quickly and stepped back blushing a deep red.

"I just need to get the fuck out of here, I need to get home" she groaned, as she turned towards the door and pushed past me again, calling out for Sam.

I followed her back into the living room just as the lights flickered and went out. I saw her small frame freeze in the middle of the room and heard her breathing pick up.

"Bella?" I called into the darkness.

"Say s-s-omething!" I heard her voice cracking.

"What?"

"Say something, to calm me down, explain the s-s-cience behind thunder, and tell me that the apartment isn't going to get struck lightning and burst into flames."

She said it in a reasonably calm tone, but I could hear the tears behind her words and I quickly started rambling facts, I didn't think I could handle her crying.

"Umm… the lightning causes an increase in pressure and temperature and makes the air in and around the lightning expand really fast, and that creates a sonic shock wave which is what makes the thunder sound, we're going to be fine, and we're not going to get hit by lightening or burst into flames because… well just because… and even if we _do_ this building is mostly concrete so it wont light on fire or anything… so… yeah, um, are you okay?"

"No, I c-c-an't see" she said sounding calmer.

I stepped forward and took her arm, tugging her towards the couch where I made her sit. She was shaking; either from cold or as a reaction to the power outage and my brain finally started working again.

I jogged into my bedroom and unearthed a pair of black sleep pants, and one of my old high school gym shirts as well as a shirt for myself.

"I don't think you and Sam are going anywhere tonight" I said tossing her the shirt and pants "go change before you get hypothermia or something."

"I've got to call the girls and l-let them know where I am," she said, standing up and digging in her pockets.

I stepped forward and gave her a gentle push towards the bathroom, "go change, I'll call Jasper for you."

She stared up at me in the darkness for a second, finally slumping her shoulders and stumbling towards the bathroom.

I grabbed my cell and quickly dialed Jasper's cell phone.

"Ed? You okay man? The power's out"

"No shit Jazz, I'm fine, Bella came looking for Sam and she's going to stay here till the weather calms down and the power comes back, you guys got any flashlights or anything around here?"

"Okay man, umm yeah there might be some stuff above the fridge, candles and shit like that."

"Alright thanks."

"Hey try to be nice to Bells tonight, she hates storms."

"Yeah I've discovered that already, she's fine she's just getting dried off."

"Alright, night man."

"Night."

I shuffled into the kitchen and quickly found the flashlight and candles. The flashlight of course had dead batteries so I lit the candles and settled them on a dinner plate so they wouldn't drip everywhere.

When Bella wandered back into the living room I had managed to haul Sam out from behind Emmett's drums and had him sitting next to me packed against my side.

She had rolled the waistband of the pants down several times, bringing the crotch up to the right height for her, but the legs were still too long causing them to puddle around her feet. The shirt fit a little bit better, considering it hadn't fit me since I had been in junior high school, but it was still big on her tiny frame.

She slumped down on the other side of Sam and pulled him away from me and halfway onto her lap.

"Thank you," she said in a quiet voice.

"No problem" I said trying to sound indifferent.

Silence fell between us and I squirmed awkwardly next to her. I just didn't know what to say to her.

"Why don't you like me?!" she asked suddenly.

Wow this girl was about as subtle as a hammer. I looked over to see her squishing her eyes closed as if berating herself for being so blunt.

"Umm, I don't _not_ like you."

"Well then why did you just glare at me when we met the other night? Most people try to at least appear reasonably friendly until the other person actually speaks."

"That's just how my face looks."

Great Edward, that response deserves a slow clap.

"Whatever," she said, giving up and pulling Sam closer as the thunder continued to rumble.

"What's your last name?" I blurted, mentally kicking myself.

"What?" she looked at me confused.

"Umm, I don't know your last name, or anything about you, I don't _not _like you, I just don't know you, so… what's your last name?"

Good, that sort of made sense, I'm a completely rude jackass because I don't know what your last name is. Fucking perfect.

She seemed to consider for a second as if weighing the possibility that might be interested in stealing her identity or setting up camp in the bushes outside of her apartment.

"Swan. What's yours?"

"Um, same as Jaspers, Cullen, I am his brother after all."

She huffed at me as if it weren't her who had just asked an incredibly stupid question.

"I know your Jasper's brother, I just thought you maybe had a different last name, you were all adopted right?"

"Oh, umm yeah, but I took my parents name… Masen, was my old name."

I hadn't known that Jasper had told her we were adopted, we didn't always tell people that part of our lives, our parents were our parents, and it didn't really matter that we weren't bound by blood.

"It's nice," she said simply, as she played with Sam's ears.

The awkward silence fell on us again and I leaned back fiddling with my fingers. When I couldn't take it anymore I got to my feet and turned to face her.

"I'll take Sam out quickly so he can do his business and then we can go to bed, there isn't really anything to do until the power comes back on."

I stooped and picked Sam up heaving him over my shoulders and headed for the door. I heard Bella get to her feet behind me but I practically ran out of the apartment. I needed to get away from her for a bit.

I felt guilty for making her think I didn't like her, but what could I have done differently? _Hey Bella, I know you're dating my brother but I'm completely obsessed with you and can't stop dreaming about packing up the tent in my pants and setting up camp between your legs for a couple of weeks. _Yeah that would go over really well.

I didn't know how to be around her. I couldn't let myself continue on being an ass to her, but I didn't think I would be capable of even speaking to her without either throwing moody glares her way, or dropping to my knees and begging to let me ravish her.

When I got Sam outside he cowered against my legs for a few minutes before finally creeping out along the front walkway and urinating on the closest bush possible. Once finished he scampered back to my side and waited to be picked up again. His shaggy coat wasn't soaked but he was wet enough to ensure that by the time we reached the top of the stairs again the shoulders of my t-shirt were saturated and we both reeked of wet dog. I dropped Sam in front of the door and plucked the wet shirt away from my chest.

Candle light flickered through the crack under the door and a gentle strumming could be heard coming from the apartment. I paused, leaning against the doorframe to listen.

"_There's a harvest each Saturday night_

_At the bars filled with perfume and hitching a ride_

_A place you can stand for one night and get gone_

_It's clear this conversation ain't doing a thing_

_Cause these boys only listen to me when I sing_

_And I don't feel like singing tonight_

_All the same songs_

_In these deep city lights_

_Girl could get lost tonight_

_I'm finding every reason to be gone_

_Nothing here to hold on to_

_Could I hold you?"_

I slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside. She didn't look up but she had to know I was there. I walked forward and sat down next to her on the couch. There was something about her lyrics that seemed almost desperate, like someone begging to be heard.

"_Calling out somebody save me I feel like I'm fading away_

_Calling out somebody save me I feel like I'm fading…_

_I'm fading"_

As she finished she slid the guitar onto the floor and looked down at it, playing with her fingers.

"Sorry," she said "it calms me down."

"It was beautiful," I said, meaning it. She was beautiful.

"Did you write that?" I asked her.

"Yeah, it's nothing, I want to be a writer, but my songs… they're just for me."

I didn't see how writing songs didn't make her a writer, but didn't question her further.

"Well," I said a quietly, not wanting to break the peace that had settled on the room with her playing, "I guess I'm going to go to bed."

I got up and started to head towards my bedroom.

"Umm, wait!" she called out, "where should I sleep?"

I turned and looked at her confused.

"In Jaspers room," I answered, feeling tiny stabs of jealousy prickle at the back of my neck.

"Umm, do you think he'll mind?"

I was starting to get exasperated with her, I didn't like thinking about her sleeping in there, let alone talking about it.

"Why on earth would he mind? you slept in there last night!"

"No I didn't."

No, I suppose she didn't sleep in there. I thrust my hands through my hair in frustration, did she really need to bring up the all night sex thing?

"Whatever! So you didn't _sleep,_ but I think considering what you _did_ do in there Jasper wont exactly mind you using his bed."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" she yelled getting to her feet, "what exactly are you implying?"

"Listen I really do not want to talk about your sex life with my brother. I just…"

"WHAT sex life with your brother!?" she screeched cutting me off.

"What sex life? The sex life the entire building got to experience last night. You could be a bit quieter you know, I really did NOT need to hear my brother fucking his girlfriend all god damned night!"

"Fucking who? I'm not his fucking girlfriend!"

**Song – "City" by Sara Bareillis (I posted a link on my blog to a cover version done by a girl named Chelsea Ray, she does a realy nice acoustic version of this on guitar.**

**Please review and let me know how I'm doing! Cheers! -GSR**


	4. Villain

**I don't own twilight or any of the characters.**

**BPOV**

"_Fucking who? I'm not his fucking girlfriend!"_

He was staring at me with blank eyes, while I balled my fists at my side, fighting the urge to smash those big nerdy glasses into his face.

"Why on earth did you think I was fucking Jasper?" I said unclenching my jaw. I was pissed, although I wasn't exactly sure why. I was mostly confused.

Suddenly he shook his head slightly, the life coming back into his face. The corner of his mouth quirked.

"You're not his girlfriend?"

"I just said that fuck-tard!"

His face split into a total shit eating grin and he looked at me unbelieving.

"He called you his girl, and.. bad girlfriend…and he said..."

He paused shaking his head a little and ran his hands through his hair, never taking his incredulous gaze off of me.

"Bad Girlfriend? It's a fucking act Edward! I slut it up on stage with Jazz and as a result, triple their fucking tips!"

He was still grinning at me, and with the glare finally removed from his face I was able to finally get a good look at him without feeling like I would turn to stone if I met his gaze. I don't think I had ever really seen him properly before this. His hair was the strangest color of bronze, and was ruffled up in a way that suggested he had difficulty with the acquisition and manipulation of all comb and brush like objects. Behind his funky nerd glasses his eyes were bright green, like the sky before a particularly destructive storm.

We were shaken out of our staring match by another loud crash of thunder, which caused me to dive back into the couch cushions covering my ears. I knew it was irrational but I couldn't stand storms.

Suddenly Edward was crouched down in front of the couch, his face full of concern. He reached out with one hand to lightly touch my arm, and with the other hand he gently scratched Sam behind the ears as he cowered in front of the couch attempting to fit his bulky frame underneath the coffee table. I felt my skin erupt into goose flesh where his fingers touched me.

"It's going to be okay Bella, it's just thunder, expanding pressure remember?" he murmured, still gently rubbing both my arm, and Sam's ears. Sam seemed to be experiencing the same calming effect his touch had as well.

I didn't know what about our Jasper related blow up had resulted in this dramatic shift in his mood, but I wasn't complaining. Right now I didn't need an enemy, I needed someone to hover over me and remind me that the roof was not about to be ripped from above me.

"You should get some sleep," he said gently pulling me to my feet, "why don't you and Sam go sleep in _my_ room, I'll take the couch out here.

I nodded mutely and shuffled towards his open bedroom door, snapping my fingers at Sam to get him to follow me. When he simply braced himself and crouched lower to the floor, Edward leaned forward and swooped him up into his arms, walking past me and plopping Sam down on the end of his bed where he instantly burrowed into the quilts. I quickly followed, crawling under the sheets next to my furry sleeping mate and pulling the blankets up tight around me.

Edward ran his hand through his hair once more and leaned casually against the door looking down at me in his bed. I wondered why he suddenly had suggested my sleeping in _his _room as opposed to Jaspers, but was grateful considering what he had mentioned earlier about the _activities_ Jasper and Alice had been involved with the night before.

"Goodnight Bella… night Sam," he said with a small smile, before he backed out of the room and closed the door most of the way.

A small crack of candle light glowed around the edge of the slightly ajar door and I heard the springs on the couch creak before he blew out the plate of candles and the room fell into darkness.

"Goodnight Edward."

*~*~*~*~

_His breath whooshed out against my ear and I felt my whole body quiver as he dropped his lips to my neck, pressing open mouthed kisses against my skin, and scraping his teeth lightly against my throat. _

_I ran my hands up his naked back and neck, eventually fisting my hands in his hair to pull him closer. _

_His hands came up to grab my upper arms hard and he slammed me back against the wall, grinding his hips against mine._

_His lips moved against my neck, "Say my name Bella!"_

_I gasped and mumbled feverishly in response, my brain completely disjointed._

_I felt his lips on my neck, slowly moving down to my breasts, and my nipples ached desperately wanting him to rip away my clothes and suck them into his mouth._

_His hands came down over my ass and he scooped me up, wrapping my legs around his waist as he forced me back into the wall again._

"_Say it!"_

"Oh god, Edward!"

My eyes snapped open and my hand came up and clamped tightly over my own mouth in self preservation.

Oh god, please don't let him have heard that. My sleep talking landed me in several embarrassing situations in the past and I really did not need my irrational sex dreams exposed to the general public before I had even consumed my morning coffee.

I slid out of the warm bed and straightened the too big sleep pants and t-shirt Edward had given me the night before.

Sam was no where to be found and I looked up to see the door pushed open enough for him to make his escape.

"Crap," I muttered, imagining Edward mere feet away, either preparing to try and ignore what he had heard, or getting ready to berate me and my filthy dream-fucking mind.

I slowly stuck my head through the door and peeped out at the couch in the living room.

Edward lay sprawled on the couch, one arm dangling over the edge, the other fisted in his hair, with Sam flopped haphazardly across his thighs and stomach.

"Lucky fucking traitor dog."

Sam raised his head to look at me and quirked his head to the side. I snapped my fingers and he scrambled off of Edward and dropped to the floor.

"Belh?" Edward murmured as he flopped over onto his stomach and resumed his gentle snoring.

"Well I guess we're both lucky," I said looking down at Sam, "seems like he could sleep through an earthquake."

He looked so peaceful and sweet passed out on the couch, yet another version of Edward I was seeing for the first time. This bronze capped pile of sexy seemed to have seventeen different personalities residing inside him, my favorite being the aggressive ball of lust I had experienced during the night.

That one wasn't real Bella; his imaginary personalities don't count.

I shook my head, trying to shake the residual sex fantasies out of my head and grabbed Sam's collar and the bag containing my keys and still damp clothes and hauled both towards the door.

I closed the apartment door and looked down to be met with a "you must be mental" look from my massive fur ball.

"I'm not waking him up, you'll just have to make do with me," I said as I leaned down and wrapped my arms around Sam's middle. He instantly fell into a limp pile of fuzzy passive resistance as I began dragging him down the stairs.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

As Sam and I trudged home I internally reviewed my recent exemplifications of mental instability. Rational Bella had dreams and aspirations of becoming a writer, traveling the world and spending her days reveling in her success and independence. Bat-shit-crazy Bella wanted to run back up the 83 stairs to the guy's apartment, lick the lenses in Edwards glasses and then beg to be fucked against a wall while her dog watched. It was Bat-shit-crazy Bella who distracted rational Bella from her writing and dragged her out to pubs to play with Jasper and Emmett's band. Bat-shit-crazy Bella wanted to be a sexed up rocker chick with a bronzed hair lover. Bat-shit-crazy Bella needed to be locked in a crate and shoved off a bridge.

"Get a fucking grip woman!"

I needed to stop with the music, the band, the pubs, and the Edward fantasies. I'd known of his existence for a grand total of 3 days, and he had been under my skin since the moment our eyes locked, just another instance of my lack of self discipline.

I continued to chastise myself as I dragged Sam up my walkway towards his dumbwaiter and shoved him inside, closing the door. I turned the crank to lift him up the shaft and then stood below listening for him to scramble out upstairs so I could lower it back down. The last time I had left the dumbwaiter elevated he had hopped in and ridden down, only to escape and spend the afternoon terrorizing my neighbors backyard play set.

I turned away from my apartment steps and headed towards the main house. With luck everyone be up and Alice would be standing ready with an pot of coffee and an IV hook up so I could pump it directly into my veins. I was going to drown myself in coffee, and spend the day writing brilliant literature, and I was never going to think about Edward fucking Cullen again.

**EPOV:**

When I woke up I was blind. I squinted my eyes and tried to bring the room around me into focus but all I could see was a yellow haze.

Reaching up I pulled my glasses off my face and turned them around to read the post-it notes stuck to my lenses.

"Piano guys called, delivery at three this afternoon – J"

The other post-it featured a penis with a cowboy hat and spurs. I peeled them off and stuck them to the coffee table as I got to my feet.

The clock read 12:00pm and I shook my head wondering how I could have slept so long on the couch. Why the fuck had I slept on the couch anyway?

"_Fucking who? I'm not his fucking girlfriend!" _

I felt my face split into a grin and I grabbed my hair, pulling hard at the roots as an embarrassingly high pitched giggle slipped out of my mouth and I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet, almost jumping for fucking joy.

She wasn't fucking him! She hasn't fucked him! She's not fucking him!

In a retarded fit of disproportionate excitement, I hopped up in the air and attempted to knock my heels together, which resulted in my landing awkwardly and staggering forward so as to crack my shin on the coffee table; clearly the karma gods thought I was a fucking over enthused idiot and decided I needed to be punished.

As I sat on the floor hissing and clutching my newly gashed leg, Emmett ambled out of his room and looked down on me with a mildly interested gaze.

"I love it when you do stupid things, I look freaking brilliant by comparison"

"Axiomatically impossible" I muttered, hauling myself to my feet and attempting to wipe the grin off my face sufficiently so as to be able to glare at my large bobble headed brother.

"Using big words won't make you look like any less of a douche-bag Eddie boy,"he laughed, peering at my face "why do you look like a constipated gibbon?"

I finally managed to work up a solid glare and aimed it straight at Emmett, while I internally questioned what a constipated gibbon would actually look like. I decided to let his flawed comparison slide considering I had just been caught trying to click my heels like a miniature tap dancer in a particularly frilly dress.

"My piano is being delivered, I'm excited," I lied.

Emmett looked at me skeptically but then shook his head.

"Whatever man, why the hell is it being delivered here anyway? I thought you were getting your own place ASAP."

"I am, but it's taking longer than I expected and I have to get all of my stuff cleared out of my old apartment this week so it just has to come here."

I wasn't entirely untruthful when I said I was excited that my piano was getting delivered today, I had missed playing and I was looking forward to having it near by. It was always a form of stress release for me, and even though I had recently discovered Bella to be unattached, I doubted I would be getting any form of _stress release_ with her, in fact she would probably be adding to my stress levels; I needed my piano.

"Any leads yet?" Emmett asked, pulling the penis post it note off the table and walking to the kitchen to stick it on the fridge.

"Not really except for this old dilapidated store front I walked past yesterday, I haven't seen inside but it looked big enough to have a living space upstairs too."

"That would be sweet! Women love the loft type deal above an artist studio, and that's kinda what you are with the classical shit and all that."

"I was more focused on the whole, professional teaching studio thing, but yeah, sure Em" I laughed.

At that moment Jasper walked through the front door lugging several bags of groceries.

"Hey, your up, fuck man I thought you had died on that couch!" he said dropping the sacks on the counter, "long night last night?"

"Oh yeah hey! What happened with you and Bells last night? You kids play nice?" Emmett asked grinning at me.

"She was completely freaked by the storm and the blackout so I sent her to sleep in my room" I said, unable to repress a smile.

"What's that look? Did you hook up with Bells?" Jasper asked wide eyed.

"No moron I slept on the couch remember? She was scared, we talked, she played guitar a bit, no big deal."

"You seem to have lost your urge to snarl and bitch whenever her name is mentioned, so I'm guessing things went okay?"

"Yeah she's pretty cool."

"Yeah, she is," Jasper frowned "I still don't get what your initial issue was with her."

"There was a misunderstanding, but everything is fine now" I said, starting to unpack the groceries, "did you pick up more dog kibble?"

"Misunderstanding about what? You guys had barely met," Emmett said pulling the kibble from a bag and stowing it away under the sink.

"It was nothing, I just was under the impression that Jasper and her were…"

"Were what?" Jasper asked grinning at me, "You thought we were together? Holy CRAP man you were jealous! You _do_ want to hook up with our Bells! Jesus!"

"I was not, I just was pissed about the very loud sex I had to listen to the other night, and I thought it was Bella! Who on earth were you fucking if it wasn't her?"

"Alice! I'm dating Alice man, I told you this months ago," he said looking slightly irritated.

I instantly felt guilty, he probably had mentioned it before and I most likely hadn't been paying attention, or had been so sleep deprived from studying that I hadn't even realized he was talking_._

"I'm sorry man, I guess I missed it, or forgot or something."

"Well whatever, that is not what's important, Eddie boy wants to play with our little Bells, you better be good to her man she's like a sister to us, and Rosalie will rip your arms off if you mess with her," Emmet said laughing, clearly enjoying the thought of his blonde bombshell of a girlfriend stomping on my man parts.

"What makes you think I'd _mess with her_, I just think she might be cool to get to know"

"Well good luck man" Jasper said, closing the last cupboard "she's pretty damn focused on her writing right now, that's why she wont step up and replace Jake in the band, she says playing would be a distraction. Almost anything fun, she labels as a _distraction_."

I frowned, taking in his words. Something about that reminded me of my own situation, I needed to focus on getting my teaching practice moving, and couldn't really afford _distractions_ as he put it. However just the thought of her sitting on our couch strumming a guitar was enough to make me think I wasn't nearly as dedicated to work as Miss Bella Swan.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once my piano had arrived and was man-handled up the stairs by three extremely sweaty, extremely distraught piano movers, we decided it was time to head to the pub.

The Crater was a largish bar with a reasonable size stage and dance floor, old scarred wooden booths and peanut shells on the floor. Jasper, Emmett and their erstwhile guitarist Jake had been playing their every weekend for the last couple of months and had started to develop a small following. Tonight, now that Jake had been formally informed of his ejection from the band, I had agreed to fill in on guitar. Jasper was excited because my presence meant an opportunity to try out some new songs Jake hadn't been willing to try. We had gone through their songs, and even took a look at some of the stuff I had written, and had included a few in our set. I hadn't found anything to be concerned about in regards to my skills, I could sight read and had a knack for playing songs almost perfectly without even having practiced them before, however my stomach was twisting slightly and the thought of the singing they had asked me to do.

We pulled up in the Emmett's newly repaired van and slowly began unloading our stuff. We didn't have to play for a couple of hours yet so we could take our time getting things ready and have a few drinks first, and drinks were definitely something I would need if I had any hope of looking half way comfortable on stage tonight.

Once we had our stuff set up on stage we sat on the edge near our gear and downed a couple of shots to help settle our nerves… well _my_ nerves.

"Relax Ed, you're going to fog up your glasses!" Jasper said handing me another shot of whiskey, "you'll adjust to the whole stage thing soon enough."

"I'm not going to adjust to anything Jasper, this is a temporary thing!"

"You're as bad as Bella man."

"She's not going to be here tonight is she?" I asked, looking around the bar for long mahogany hair.

"Dunno," Jasper grinned at me "Alice and Rose are coming, but they said they were having trouble disengaging Bella's grip on her computer, apparently she's feeling inspired."

"Eddie looks like he could use a little _inspiration_, hopefully Bella does show or he might bust a nut," laughed Emmett.

"Are you trying to make a sex joke? I can't tell" Jasper chuckled sliding a shot towards Emmett.

"I'm not actually sure" he said, a confused look taking up residence on his face, "I was kinda hoping you wouldn't ask."

I stood up rolling my eyes, "I don't care if she comes I was just curio…"

"SO! This is the fucker you got to replace me"

A bulky looking guy in a with long black hair and dirty jeans strolled forward and glared up at me on the stage. Jacob Black.

"Hey Jake," Jasper said coolly, "Yeah you remember our brother Edward, he's filling in for you tonight."

I stuck my hand out casually and we shook, Black never reeling in the glare he had locked on me.

"I'm surprised that little brunette chick with the cute tits isn't the one taking my place, isn't she your slutty little meal ticket?"

I wrenched my fist out of Blacks grasp and was seconds from driving it into his jaw when Emmett grabbed me from behind and pulled me back, which surprised me, because even I hadn't expected to react to Black's words the way I did.

"Don't you EVER fucking say a word about her" I spat at him.

Black looked slightly amused at my outburst and waved off my threat, turning back to Jasper.

"Well even _he_ was probably a better choice than what's-her-name" he said aiming a thumb at me, "she's hot but she can't play for shit."

"Fuck you Jake, just get out of here, no one needs this crap," Jasper said angrily.

Black shot me another look and then, shrugging his shoulders, turned and sauntered towards the bar. Emmet finally unlocked his tree trunks from around me and I slumped down onto the stage, pounding my fist into the boards.

"Fuck him" I hissed through my teeth.

"Easy Ed, he's just talking out of his ass, Bella wouldn't give a shit! And you're really starting to act strangely possessive of a woman you barely know! Might want to tone down the stalker impulses a bit." Emmett laughed at me, trying to break the tension.

I shot him a look but decided to let it go, and got up to go find the men's room.

I stood for a few minutes staring at myself in the mirror. I had wanted to kill Jacob Black for what he said, which was ridiculous. In a way Emmett was right, I was getting dangerously close to the line in between harmless crush and writing love letters in my own blood.

I shook my head at my over dramatic internal dialogue. I knew I wasn't _that_ far gone for Bella Swan, but the feelings I was having for a woman I barely knew were foreign to me and they were messing with my head.

I took off my glasses and splashed a hand full of water in my face, trying to shake off the anger Black had left with me.

When I returned to the edge of the stage I found that the ladies had arrived.

I smiled and waved casually to them as I walked over, trying to make up for my attitude of the past few days.

"Hey Alice, Rose, good to see you again" I said, sounding completely over eager and causing me to wince internally.

The girls looked slightly taken aback but then smiled warmly at me.

"You too Edward," Alice said sweetly, "looking forward to hearing you tonight, are you nervous?"

Jasper chuckled and I shot him a glare "No, I'm fine. So I see you didn't manage to pry the computer from your friends clutches."

I saw Alice throw a look at Rosalie but she turned back to me before I could have a chance to decipher what she meant by it.

"No, she's here somewhere, she stopped at the bar when we first arrived, she'll join us soon I'm sure."

I saw Emmett nudge Rosalie who was perched in his lap, and she bit her lip widening her eyes at him.

I didn't know what was up with my brothers and their girlfriends but I didn't have time to think about it before I spotted her.

She had her hair down flowing around her shoulders and was wearing a clingy white tank with little tiny strips of fabric running between both breasts. I felt the air get knocked out of me as I watched her lean forward across the counter to give the bartender her order.

I was so wrapped up in gawking at her that I didn't notice Black until he was practically on top of her, his hands firmly planted on her little hips.

Rage washed through me as I saw him lean down to whisper in her ear and I started forward, preparing to tear his arms out of their sockets.

"Jake get your fucking hands off me" Bella shouted, shoving against Black's chest

"Come on Bells, take it easy I just want to have a conversation with you."

"A conversation does not usually include you groping me, now get the hell out of my face!"

"Why don't you make me Bells, you might act all tough, kicking Jasper's ass up on stage bu…"

I was, yet again, seconds away from trashing Jacob Blacks face when suddenly he dropped to the floor.

Bella had one hand fisted tightly in Blacks hair, wrenching his head up, and had one heeled foot rooted firmly in his crotch.

She pulled his head up by the hair and then slammed it back down into the floor.

"Don't you EVER fucking touch me again Jacob Black, or I will do the world a favor and permanently remove your ability to spawn your future devil children."

I couldn't help grinning at scene in front of me. Her tiny frame looked almost ridiculously small hovering over the massive lump that was Black. She let go of his hair, his head falling with a thump to the floor and she shoved her heel into his crotch one more time before straightening up and spinning around only to run smack into my chest.

My hands came up and caught her upper arms, steadying her but she quickly shrugged me off.

"What do _you_ want?" she spit out, glaring up at me, fire dancing in her eyes.

I quickly wiped the smirk off my face and gestured to Black, who was slowly crawling away through the crowd.

"I was, umm… coming to save you?" I asked quirking an eyebrow at her.

She huffed, and then tossed me a reluctant smile.

"Thanks, but I think I've got things under control here." She dusted her hands together and walked towards the bar where she had left her drink.

"I can see that, I was impressed."

She squinted at me and furrowed her brow.

"What you didn't think I could handle it?"

"NO! I mean, I just meant that I was impressed _how_ you handled it, not a lot of women would have… and you did such a good… yeah. Good work!" I said and patted her on the back.

Good work? Really? And a pat on the back? What was I her coach? Fuck.

She looked at me over the rim of her drink, and then rolled her eyes. "Right, thanks I guess."

Yes Bella, I think I'm an idiot as well, do not worry you are not alone in that group. Perhaps now I could spill something on her, maybe trip and break my glasses. This awkwardness simply screamed high school, I might as well go all the way. Someone get me a band uniform, QUICK!

"So you're playing tonight?" she said leaning back on the counter.

I nodded my head and looked back at the stage to see our group gawking shamelessly at the two of us and elbowing each other in the ribs.

"Yeah, I'm a bit nervous" I said quietly as I suddenly felt the little red guitar pick I had gotten from Bella the first time I saw her burn me through the pocket of my jeans, I had brought it for luck for some reason but now I didn't think it was enough. She was an amazing guitarist and singer, and now I had to perform in front of her. Clearly, life hated me.

I flagged the bartender and ordered another shot of whiskey, suddenly needing a bit more liquid courage.

"I'm sure you'll do fine, this is a good crowd, I've played here before."

I nodded my head again, looking down at her. Fuck she was gorgeous.

"Do you think you might want to get a drink sometime?"

Oh crap, who said that? Did I just? No I'm not that stupid.

She looked at me with raised eyebrows and lifted her drink smoothly, clinking it against mine. "Sure," she said sarcastically.

"I meant like, another drink, somewhere else, not here."

I was digging myself in deeper and deeper. The only thing I could hope for at this point was that my canary would die and I'd get trampled as the rest of the awkward idiots in my brain scrambled to get out of the mineshaft of stupidity I had created.

"I don't date, I write. I can't afford distractions"

There was that word again, distractions.

"I'm not asking you to go backpacking across New Zealand, I'm asking if I can take you out one night."

"Why?"

Why? Did she seriously ask me why?

"Just because, that's just what people do! They go out!"

I was starting to feel a little bit of the original frustration I used to feel for this girl. Why the hell did she have to make this so difficult?

"I don't date, sorry Edward, it's just, I can't right now, I can't afford dis…"

"Distractions, yeah, caught that."

I sighed internally and looked down at her biting her lip. She seemed sorry that she had rejected me, and a faint flush crept onto her cheeks as I continued to look at her.

I lifted my hand and ghosted my fingers down along her cheek. I saw her bite her lip harder and her eyes widened slightly, but she didn't say anything.

"A shame," I breathed, "could have been fun, _distracting_ you."

I thought I saw her hold her breath, and then I heard Jaspers voice ringing through the speakers up on stage.

"Paging Romeo, sorry to be a cock block Eddie boy but we have a set to play!"

A chuckle flowed through the bar, and I felt my face go hot. When I turned back towards Bella she had slipped away from the counter and was making off towards Alice and Rosalie near the front of the dance floor.

I ran my hands through my hair, wished for Jasper to die young, and made my way towards the stage.

**BPOV  
**

Here I am, at the bar, again, not working, again.

I had spent the entire day writing, Sam curled at my feet and an oversized mug of coffee perched on my desk next to my computer. I didn't stop until Alice had barged into my apartment and announced that we were going to the Crater to see the boys play. She had reached over me and slammed my computer shut, nearly catching my fingers before I could make any arguments about "distractions."

Before I knew it I was in heels and a barely there albeit cute tank top and was being shoved out the door despite the protests of Sam who had looked thoroughly betrayed as we departed for the evening.

When we arrived we instantly spotted the boys sitting on the edge of the stage minus Edward. I had felt my spirits drop a little when he wasn't there, but mentally kicked myself for thinking that way. I had just completed a very productive, distraction free day, and I didn't need to go digging up a stupid crush to pull my attention away from more important things. Who cared about Edward Cullen?

The girls left to go greet their men and I wandered up to the counter to order a drink.

Suddenly just as I placed my order I felt a pair of warm hands descend on my hips.

For a micro second I remembered the way Edwards hands had felt on my shoulders during the storm, holding me close, comforting me, but I was abruptly snapped back into reality when I felt uncomfortably hot wet breath against my ear.

"Well if it isn't the _bad girlfriend_ wanna have some fun tonight baby?"

I instantly saw red and before I knew it, I had Black down on his back, my 4 inch heel shoved deep into his crotch, and I was bashing his head into the wooden floors.

"Don't you EVER fucking touch me again Jacob Black, or I will do the world a favor and permanently remove your ability to spawn your future devil children."

I gave him a final shove in the crotch and spun around to collide with a very solid warm chest.

Those very hands I had just been thinking of grasped my shoulders again and held me up, but I pulled back quickly before my skin could start to tingle under his fingers.

"What do _you_ want?" I asked glaring up at him.

God he looked good tonight, his hair was perfectly ruffled, and I could see a smile hiding in his green eyes.

"I was, umm… coming to save you?"

Of course he was, he was a protector guy. He had taken care of me during the storm like a weak little girl and now he had planned to trash Black for me obviously thinking I couldn't take care of myself.

"What you didn't think I could handle it?"

"NO! I mean, I just meant that I was impressed _how_ you handled it, not a lot of women would have… and you did such a good… yeah. Good work!"

He patted me on the back, and I half expected him to call me _"_slugger".

"Right, thanks I guess."

He had seemed flustered so I decided to change the subject.

"So you're playing tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm a bit nervous," he nodded, and waved to the bartender to order a drink.

"I'm sure you'll do fine, this is a good crowd, I've played here before."

I liked playing this venue with the boys, it was a casual crowd with very few bar stars, and the people didn't take themselves too seriously.

He nodded at me again.

"Do you think you might want to get a drink sometime?"

Oh crap, did he just ask me out? I didn't know how to respond so I decided to bring out Sarcastic Bella, and let her deal with the situation.

"Sure" I had said, lifting my drink at him.

"I meant like, another drink, somewhere else, not here."

"I don't date, I write. I can't afford distractions"

And Edward Cullen would be a _huge_ distraction.

"I'm not asking you to go backpacking across New Zealand, I'm asking if I can take you out one night."

"Why?"

Why? Did I seriously just ask him why he wanted to take me out?

"Just because, that's just what people do! They go out!"

He was getting frustrated with me, and I felt guilty for turning him down. First impressions aside, there was a sweet awkwardness to Edward that I was really starting to like, and the fact that I was starting to like him for more than his amazing gorgeousness was really starting to annoy me.

"I don't date, sorry Edward, it's just, I can't right now, I can't afford dis…"

"Distractions, yeah, caught that."

I bit my lip, as I looked up at him. He sounded so dejected and I felt another pang of guilt.

Suddenly, his eyes grew intense as he looked at me, his fingers coming up to touch my cheek.

"A shame," I breathed, "could have been fun, _distracting_ you."

I held my breath, feeling his touch and his words prickle my skin, when suddenly Jaspers voice cut in between us.

"Paging Romeo, sorry to be a cock block Eddie boy but we have a set to play!"

Taking advantage of Jaspers embarrassing distraction (note to self, kill Jasper) I scurried towards my girls on the dance floor and took up residence between them.

"Have a nice chat?" Rosalie asked, and winked down at me.

"Yeah, looked like you and _Jerk-ward _were getting rather cozy over there," added Alice.

"Fuck off and die bitches," I growled, as they grinned at each other.

The guys got situated on stage, and I looked up to see Edward staring down at me. A small smile quirked the corner of his mouth and he quickly leaned towards Jasper to say something in his ear; Jasper nodded and quickly stepped back to talk to Emmett.

Edward stepped towards the mic, his guitar still on his back.

"You all having a good night?" he called out to the bar, "we've got some new shit for you tonight, hope you like it."

He grinned down at me one more time before swinging his guitar in front of him and turning to Emmett, nodding his head.

Emmett counted them and they all started together in perfect sync. It was hard to believe they hadn't had more than a few hours practice together.

Edward stood a bit more stiffly than Jasper or Emmett but slowly relaxed into the rhythm of the music. His fingers plucked at the strings almost casually, like it was the easiest thing in the world to him.

As he stepped towards the mic his eyes locked on me.

"_You toss in a word_

_and I'm your villain_

_I see the passion emerge_

_and I'm your villain_

_But serious_

_You're so serious_

_Like a waiter_

_Hating the rich_

_But taking their tips"_

He was singing to me; _so serious_… I know Edward, but I have to be.

"_If I could laugh I'd love you_

_If I could smile at anything you said_

_We could be laughing lovers_

_I think you'd prefer to be miserable instead_

_If I could love I'd love you_

_If I could love like anybody else"_

_I know what I am_

_and I'm your villain_

_although I don't give a damn if_

_I'm your villain_

_Because serious_

_You're so serious_

_But I've got ready salted_

_ready on your belly_

_If you want to have fun_

_See you later, baby See you later..."_

As he sang he grinned down at me, making my knees go weak. It was like he was making me a promise, he _would_ see me later, whether I liked it or not.

"Holy Fuck."

**The song is called "I'm your villain" by Franz Ferdinand.**

**Sorry this chapter took FOREVER, I went on vacation for a week and then had some drama at the office due to some layoffs (not me obviously or I would have had more time to write). **

**Please Review! And don't forget to check out the blog via my profile if you want to see pictures of things like Bellas bar outfit etc. I also usually try and post links to the songs I use!**

**CHEERS! ****-GSR**


	5. Steps

**I don't own twilight or any of the characters!**

**BPOV**

It had been one week. One entirely distraction free, and Edward free week. I had gone to work, come home, written, and gone to sleep. I was at peak efficiency, and I was bored out of my fucking skull! On top of being bored I also found myself increasingly frustrated and moody. Watching Edward sing at the bar last weekend was possibly one of the most erotic things I had ever witnessed, and it was stuck in my head. He had seemed so sensual as he leaned into the mic, and every word that came out of his lips seemed to be directed straight at me. I might have been being a bit ridiculous to think he was singing to me all night, but that's what it felt like.

I had mentally beat myself up all the way home from the pub and had thought I had him cleared out of my system until I realized that my writing had taken a bit of a turn for the raunchy, and suddenly my leading lady had taken a strange interest in men with thick black nerd glasses.

Every night when I wasn't up writing, I lay in bed tossing around, feeling imaginary hands work up my thighs, or imaginary lips on my neck, and I would wake up sweaty, in need of fresh panties, and with a thoroughly bitchy attitude. I tried not to take my frustrations out on Rose and Alice but it was getting tough since they were the only people I saw aside from my boss James who I couldn't really bitch at the way I wanted to.

It was getting ridiculous, but at least I had managed to avoid _actually_ seeing Edward in person. Until I got this crush, as I was finally coming to admit to myself, under control, I didn't think it was safe to go over to the guy's apartment.

I needed to do something though, if I was admitting it to myself and only myself, being cooped up in my house alone writing was taking a toll on me, so when Rosalie barged into my apartment and announced we were going out, I didn't particularly care where or why or what we could possibly be doing at ten AM on a Saturday. That is until we rounded the corner in my old red truck and found ourselves sitting in front of the guy's apartment.

Jasper was sitting out front in what appeared to be a box castle complete with bridge.

"How the fuck did you manage to get her here?" he asked, coming out of his castle and swooping Alice up into his arms.

Clearly Jasper had noticed my absence, since I usually spent a good portion of my week hanging out at the guy's place with Alice and Rose, even if it was just for an hour or so before I took off to go home and write.

"Didn't tell her where we were going" Alice said laughing.

I scowled at the both of them. "I would have come if you had just asked, you didn't have to trick me to get me over here."

Actually I probably wouldn't have come over in my efforts to avoid Edward, but I didn't need to tell them that.

"Trick you? Fuck Bella you were so desperate to get out of the house you probably would have followed us off a bridge if it meant something to do other than writing. It's like you've been trying to kill yourself with your own computer!"

"I needed to work, it's what I want to do!" I retorted.

"Yeah well if it's what you want to do then why have you been such a moody cow all week! Following your dreams shouldn't turn you into a raging bitch!"

spat Rosalie.

Clearly my mood hadn't gone unnoticed after all.

"I was not a… well regardless, it's not all fun all the… OH whatever! What's going on? Why are we here?"

"We are helping Edward move out today!" Jasper said grinning as he gestured grandly at the box castle he had made for himself.

"Lovely," I said sarcastically.

"There's the enthusiasm I was hoping for" Edward said, coming out the front door and jogging down the steps to greet us, "Ladies, thanks for coming!"

He grinned at us, letting his eyes rest on me a little longer than was strictly necessary.

"So where are we moving you to Cullen? Kyrgyzstan?" I asked, feigning hopefulness.

After all the careful avoiding I had done throughout the week, I wasn't about to let my resistance crumble at the first sight of him. Bring on bitchy Bella in all her sarcastic, issue avoiding glory.

Edward just grinned wider at me, clearly not bothered by my attempted insult, "sorry to disappoint _Swan_, but I got a place just down the way."

He waved his arm vaguely, and then grabbed my hand and pulled me towards Jasper's box castle.

"You ladies can start by loading these into Emmett's van, we'll bring more boxes down the stairs so you don't have to run up and down a bunch of times."

"Why do we need Bella's truck then? You said we _had _to get Bella to come so we could use her truck," asked Alice as, to Jasper's dismay, we started to dismantle his side walk dream home.

"We need it for my piano, it got delivered last week, but I don't think we need to bother with the movers again, with all of us here we should be able to handle it."

And with that he bounded back up the stairs, clearly brimming with excitement over the prospect of his new apartment.

For the next hour or so the girls and I continued to haul box after box from the front step out to Emmett's van. I made a point to glare at Edward every time he came down the steps with another load of stuff, which seemed to make him grin wider every time he saw me.

Thankfully, he didn't have very much stuff, and we finished quickly, walking up the stairs to the apartment to see what was left.

The guys were all standing around a large baby grand piano.

"Holy hell" cried Alice, "Jesus Edward, you've got to be kidding, I thought it would be like a little upright or something!"

"There were only three movers, and there are six of us, plus we watched how they brought it up, we'll be able to handle it."

"I dunno man" Emmett said, rubbing the back of his neck, "it seems bigger today, did it grow?"

Edward rolled his eyes and reached up to pull the top of the piano down.

"Oh! That's better! Still fucking huge though."

I walked forward and sat down on the bench, placing my hands on the keys and playing a few chords and a short melody before I looked back up at Edward.

"It's beautiful Cullen, maybe you should play it one last time before we drop it down the stairs."

He stared down at me for a few seconds before shaking his head as if trying to clear it.

"You…. I mean, it'll be fine _Swan_!"

He ran his hands through his hair and shoved his glasses back up his nose.

"Come on, let's get going."

The boys managed to maneuver the beast through the door and onto the landing outside the apartment without any major incidents, however four steps down Edward may have been reconsidering his decision.

"Just lift your end u-u-up Jazz," Edward groaned, straining to keep the piano lifted above the railing of the stairs.

"Fuck you Edward, just fuck you and your fucking piano," gasped Jasper, as his hands slipped down the sides of the unwieldy behemoth.

"This is so not the time to be fighting" I screeched from my place next to Emmett on the lower end of the piano, "put it down, put it down it's slipping!"

We all dropped our respective ends and settled the piano at an angle on the steps. It slipped forward a bit but stopped abruptly, just short of bowling over Emmett, Rose, Alice and I.

"Thank god," I huffed, before I looked up at Edward, who was sweating on the steps above me, "Fuck you Edward, just fuck you and your fucking piano!"

"Yeah I've heard that one already," he gasped still smiling down at me. Damn him and his stupid smile.

"Well I think it looks good here, you can teach lessons at an angle right Ed?" Emmett chuckled.

"Come on guys we can do it, everyone ready?" he asked putting his hands back under the edge of the piano ready to lift as the rest of us quickly got into position, "LIFT!"

It didn't move.

"Try again," he said, sounding concerned "1…2…3… LIFT!"

Nothing. The stupid thing was stuck in the stair well.

"GOD DAMMIT!" Edward said slamming his fist against the wall.

"It's not stuck, it's just temporarily un-moveable" Alice said, shoving the piano from below.

I rolled my eyes and looked up to see Edward watching me; he looked like someone had stepped his puppy, so I heaved a sigh and braced my hands next to Alice's.

"Come on guys, let's see if we can at least move it back up to the landing, then we'll call in the professionals."

We all got back into position, "1…2…3… Push!"

We all shoved and yanked and I felt the piano give an inch.

"AGAIN!" I shouted "PUSH!"

We shoved again and I felt the piano slip from against the wall, and suddenly get a lot heavier as it's weight came down on us. My foot slipped on the stair as the weight pushed against me, and then I was falling backward.

"BELLA!" I heard Edward shout from above me, and then everything went black.

**EPOV**

"OH GOD, OH GOD!"

Bella lay at the bottom of the steps and my eyes instantly snapped to the blood I could see on her right forearm.

I shimmied between the legs of the piano and ran down the steps, dropping to my knees and gathering her up in my arms. Her eyes fluttered opened and she looked at me, mouthing something, but not actually making any sound.

"Emmett! Keys!"

He pulled his keys from his pocket and tossed them to me, still gripping the piano tightly so as to prevent any further injuries to our group. Fortunately the stupid thing was wedged again and I didn't think it was going anywhere soon.

Alice, who had slipped back up the stairs and had grabbed Bella's bag was now carefully wrapping Bella's arm in a hand towel and checking her eyes as she urged me down the stairs. "Let's go Edward, these guys will handle the piano, hospital now!"

I nodded and made my way down the stairs towards Emmett's van. Alice hopped behind the wheel, looking ridiculously small, as I shoved aside some boxes and slid into the back next to Bella, holding her tightly against my side.

"I'm fine" she breathed, finally able to make noise again, "I just had the wind knocked out of me!"

"And you cut yourself on some broken glass, we're going to the hospital now."

She groaned and let her head fall against my shoulder, closing her eyes.

"HEY! Don't close your eyes, you can't fall asleep, you might have a concussion," I said shaking her urgently.

Her eyes opened and she glared at me, but settled back against my arm, staring forward out the window.

I closed my own eyes and pressed my cheek against her hair. What was I thinking? Moving my piano? How could I ask my friends to do that? I was so eager to get to my new space I couldn't be bothered to call a few movers?

Her hair smelled amazing and I wanted nuzzle my nose into her and kiss her forehead, and was about to when I opened my eyes to see Alice looking back at me through the rear view mirror.

I pulled my face away from Bella's hair but didn't loosen my grip on her body.

"Does it hurt?" I asked timidly.

"No, I'm fine, this is par for the course for me."

"OH god Bella I'm…"

"It's not your fault Edw.. _Cullen_… it's my own traitorous feet."

Cullen. Well after this I doubted she would ever warm up to me enough to call me by my given name again. Cullen seemed to be something she used to distance herself from me as much as she could.

"They're probably revolting against you for all those hideous chucks you shove on them" Alice called from the front seat.

Bella chuckled darkly, as if wearing chucks were some act of rebellion against "the man", or at least against Alice.

I looked down at my own similar shoes and then at her, quirking an eye brow.

She giggled and grinned, and I almost jumped out of my seat to dance with joy that she had finally smiled at me.

A big stupid grin plastered itself on my face, and I noticed Alice watching me again with a frown in her eyes. I instantly tried to make my face go blank but it was a struggle.

We pulled up to the hospital's ER doors and I reluctantly got out of the van. Bella sat swaying in her seat for a few moments before taking a hesitant step out of the vehicle. She stumbled forward and I rushed to her, scooping her up in my arms again.

"I'm fine, just a bit shaky."

"I'll decided when you're fine."

She looked paler than usual, and a sheen of sweat was glimmering on her forehead. Her arm clearly hurt more than she was letting on.

We were lucky that the ER seemed to be having a slow day, I had been into emergency on days when it took 5 or 6 hours just to be looked at. Hopefully this wouldn't take quite as long.

The nurses greeted Bella as if she were an old friend rather than just another patient, clearly this _was_ par for the course for her, however I couldn't even fathom how many trips to the ER it would take to build the friendship with the staff that she seemed to have.

Alice filled out the paper work and I carried Bella into the waiting room. I sat down with her in my lap and she instantly tried to crawl into the chair next to me, but I brought my hands down hard on her hips and forced to her to stay put. She probably didn't need to be held like a child but having her in my arms made _me_ feel steadier, and I really didn't want to sit and shake with nerves in front of her.

She turned and looked at me questioningly and I shrugged. She narrowed her eyes at me again, but then shrugged back, and settled herself against my chest. Her arm was definitely hurting her more than she was letting on because I doubt Bella on any other day would let me get away with holding her in my lap.

Alice finally came over, putting her cell phone back into her bag. She quirked an eye brow at me with Bella in my lap, but didn't make any remark about it.

"Jasper says they've called a mover for the piano, and that Rose and Emmett are coming here with Bella's truck in a little while. Rose and I will stay with Bella while she gets things cleaned up, and you can go back in the van with Emmett to finish moving."

"I'll stay with Bella!" I said not really thinking. I couldn't leave her, this was my fault and I needed to make sure she was okay. She needed me, or at the least, I needed her.

"That doesn't make sense" she said firmly "_Rose and I_ are her family here, and you have and apartment to move into. You're going."

I looked at her practically begging her with my eyes, but she shook her head and I slouched back into the chair, wrapping my arms around Bella and pulling her up so I could hide my face behind her and pout.

Bella seemed completely out of it, as she didn't seem opposed to us discussing her as if she wasn't sitting on my lap between us.

I was surprised when the nurse called her name no more than half an hour later. I stood up, Bella still in my arms and walked towards the small mousey haired nurse, who smiled up at me sweetly, clearly thinking me a doting boyfriend or loving husband, rather than a guilty piano-moving jackass.

The doctor that followed us into the room clutching Bella's chart laughed when he saw who was sitting up on the examination table. He was maybe four or five years older than us.

"Well if it isn't my favorite patient, how's the bum sweetheart?"

I instantly clenched my fists and glared at the asshole in white. What kind of perverted facility was this?

Alice giggled and smiled at the guy, and Bella rolled her eyes but smiled as well.

"Hey Dr. Cheney. Fine, barely any evidence you had your hands on me" she said with a wink.

A small growl ripped from my throat and the three of them looked at me curiously. What the fuck was going on here?

Dr. Asshole raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat, "Bella here is a bit of a celebrity around this place. Very few people make as many visits as she does, and no one has ever come into the ER needing a set of bum stitches."

I relaxed back into the chair by the door, but continued to glare at the doctor while he began inspecting Bella's arm, running his fingers up her wrist gently.

I wanted to pull his fingers off once by one and feed them to him, but I had a feeling that Bella wouldn't exactly appreciate me incapacitating the man she needed to sew up her arm.

They continued to chat aimlessly while the doctor did Bella's stitches and checked her over for any other injuries we may have missed.

She turned out to be very lucky, the cut on her arm being the worst of things.

Alice left to call Jasper again and check up on how the move was progressing and I sat brooding over the day we'd been having.

Not only was it my fault Bella was hurt, it was also my fault that this fucker with a medical license was getting a chance to hit on her. She didn't look uncomfortable, but his constant flirting was making me want to tear my hair out by the roots.

Alice wandered back in and handed me the phone, saying that Jasper wanted to talk to me.

I stood up, and with a backwards glance at Bella, stepped out of the room.

"What?" I snarled into the phone.

"Whoa, easy there man, just calling to say that the piano guys came and un-wedged your piano from the stairs. They're taking it over to your new place right now, Emmett went with them to let them in."

I sighed, my brothers and Rose were being great about the whole situation. Helping someone move was a pain in the ass and they weren't complaining about it at all.

"Thanks Jazz, sorry it's just been a long day, and this ass hole doctor keeps hitting on Bella while she's hurt."

Jasper chuckled into the phone, "No worries man, Rose and Em will be there soon and she'll take over Bella-watch duty from you."

"Yeah, Alice told me, thanks man, I'll see you soon."

"Cheers."

I flipped the cell closed and wandered back into the examination room. The doctor was standing up to go and Bella was holding a little empty cup and a business card. I glared at the card in her hand, and then at the doctor. Did he seriously give her his number?

"Call me if you need _anything_ Bella, and I hope to see you again real soon."

"That's kind of a fucked up thing to hope for" I growled at him.

Bella shot me a look, but the jerk just gave me a self satisfied smirk and walked out of the room.

I handed Alice the phone and went to help Bella off the table. She shoved my hand away glaring at me, and then let out a small squeaky giggle.

I looked at her frowning, did she just glare _and_ giggle at me?

"Bella, are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" she said glaring at me again.

Suddenly her face split into an awkward grin and she laughed out right.

"You're wearing glasses!" she chirped, reaching up and snatching them off my face. She shoved them over her own eyes and blinked up at me like an owl.

"You're not that blind, I can sort of still see you through these."

"Uh oh," Alice laughed, "What was in that little cup Bella?"

"Dunno, drugs for my arm I guess. Look Alice, Edward looks hot without his glasses too."

I grinned down at her and gently tried to retrieve my glasses, but she swatted my hand away and then wrapped her arms around my waist hugging me tight.

"Nope, they're mine now!"

"She gets like this whenever they give her pain killers, lets take her outside to sit on a bench and wait for Rose and Emmett, they should be on their way soon."

We led Bella down the hall, still giggling like a loon and wearing my glasses. We plunked her down on the first bench we found and she pulled me by the arm to sit next to her.

"You're really pretty Edward, but I like you with your glasses." She shoved them back on my face and leaned back against the bench swinging her legs under her.

"Thank you," I said trying not to laugh at how ridiculous she was acting.

Alice dropped Bella's bag next to me and turned towards the door, "I'll be right back you two, I left my coat inside."

As soon as she was out of sight, Bella climbed up into my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck pulling my face into her chest.

"You were really nice to me today Edward, which is bad because I've been ignoring you."

"Ignoring me?" I said into her collarbone as I tried to extricate myself from her tiny strangle hold.

"You're a distraction and I'm a writer, and my leading lady can not fall for a guy in nerdy sexy glasses who rocks on guitar so I'm ignoring you."

"Well that doesn't seem fair to me" I laughed as I finally pulled her arms free, careful not to touch her bandage.

"It's not, but that's life isn't it? But Sam misses you and I feel bad for that too. What did you do to my dog anyway, he loves you!"

"I dunno but I miss him too, and you Bella, you don't have to ignore me you know, we can be friends."

"No, you want to _distract me_," she said, giving me a sexy smile.

"I don't have to _distract_ you, we can be _just_ friends if you want."

It was the last thing I wanted, to be _just_ friends with Bella Swan, but at this point I'd take what I could get.

"Yeah?" she asked, weaving her fingers through mine.

I looked down into those deep chocolate eyes and nodded. I was so fucked.

"Okay!" she said happily, staring back at me.

She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around my neck again twining her fingers into my hair and resting her head on my shoulder. Her breath whooshed softly against my neck and I shivered.

When I pulled back to look at her again, my face came level with hers and I froze. I could feel her sweet breath against my lips, and her hands tightening in my hair. I couldn't help it, even though she was high as a kite, I just couldn't help it, and I let my eyes fall closed and leaned towards her.

**BEEP!** Bella's truck pulled around the corner and honked at us in greeting.

Bella jumped and slid away from me, smiling like a mischievous cat. I shook my head to clear it and looked up to see Emmett grinning down at us.

"What's up guys? How ya feeling Bells?"

"Emmett!" she squeaked happily, "Rosie! Guess what, Edward and me are friends now!"

"Are you now?" Emmett replied shooting me a wink. I scowled back at him.

"She have pain killers?" Rose asked looking at me.

"Yeah, I don't know what though, I came in after she had taken them."

"Doesn't really matter with her," she said pointing a thumb at Bella "anything will turn her into a complete goof."

Alice came back out of the ER and helped Rose load Bella into the truck between them. She sat their giggling maniacally, tears streaming down her face from laughing so hard.

"Edward and me are going to be friends Alice, but I still think he wants to _distract_ me" she said waggling her eye brows in my direction, "not that I blame him, I'm a fucking rock goddess!"

Emmett laid down on the bench clutching his stomach, hooting with laughter, and I covered my mouth trying to look collected and serious.

"Yes Bella, you are, but don't worry I'll do my best to behave myself."

**BPOV**

My arm felt like someone was pressing a hot wire into the length of it, and my mouth felt like it was full of cotton balls.

"Groan." I said not opening my eyes. I could feel my favorite quilt over my feet, so I knew I was laying on my own bed.

"Groan yourself," I heard Rose's voice from next to me, and I cracked my eye open to see her laying on my bed next to me flipping through a magazine. "Welcome back to the land of the living sunshine."

"How long have I been out?"

"Since we got you home, we set you down on your bed and you just fell backward and went to sleep, it's about 10:30pm now."

"Thanks sweetie, you didn't have to stay with me you know."

"I know but it was an excuse for Alice and I not to have to heave any more boxes so we were happy to hang out, Ali just took Sam out for a minute."

"Oh so it was a completely selfless act," I said grinning at her.

A creaking grinding noise started in the corner and we looked up to see Sam emerge in his dumbwaiter with rain drops in his coat. He shook himself an wandered over to nudge my leg and give me a concerned look.

"I'm fine Sammy," I said, ruffling his fur. "So how was the rest of the move anyway?"

"Dunno," Alice said walking through the door, "we didn't even get to go see Edwards new place, but Emmett said we'll be surprised when we finally see it."

"Apparently it's a bit of a dump right now but Edward has already bought a bunch of renovation stuff. When Ali and the boys and I get back next week we'll have to go over and see it."

"Back next week?" I asked.

"Yeah, remember Alice has that design conference thing to go to in Vancouver, and I managed to convince Meyers to send me as well to document shit and whatever. Jazz and Em decided yesterday that they were going to tag along, we we're road tripping it to Canada."

"Way to ditch me you guys! Don't suppose you can get me out of work for a week can you Rosie?"

"Sorry Bells, you've got three meetings this week, and two manuscripts to turn over to James by Friday, don't think I didn't try to spring you, but it's already a stretch that I'm going."

"Leave it to you to know my schedule better than I do" I pouted.

"Well maybe you can spend this week getting know you're _new friend_" Alice laughed.

"What on earth are you jabbering about Alice?"

"Edward baby! You announced to the general public this afternoon that you and him were 'friends' now," she tossed up the air quotes "but that he wanted to 'distract' you because you're a 'fucking rock goddess' and such."

"Oh good! I hadn't reached my humiliation quota for the week, glad I could knock it all out in one day. Now…" I said standing up "who'd like to shoot me in the face?"

"Over dramatic much? Edward seemed to find you adorable, plus even before you were all doped up he couldn't keep his hands off you!" Alice said clapping her hands together "I watched him on the way to the hospital and in the waiting room, he wants you Bella!"

"I know that, he asked me out last week at the bar before he sang."

"WHAT?!" my two best friends screeched in unison.

"BELLA!" Rosalie said grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me, "why didn't you tell us?"

"Be-ca-use I said no! S-top shaking me R-rose!"

"Why on earth would you say no?"

"Because I don't need a dist…"

"If you say distraction one more time Bella I swear to all the gods of fashion I will slap you!" Alice shouted, her hands on her hips.

"I need work on my writing guys, I can't date, I don't have the time."

"Don't give me that crap Bella, Rose and I see what it's like for you being cooped up in here writing all the time, you don't like it you just won't admit it to yourself. This is all just because of your Dad!"

"Don't talk about my Dad, and I do like it, where do you get off telling me what I do and do not enjoy?"

"You don't, you were a total bitch to me and Rose all week, because you were pissed off about being cooped up and ignoring what you really want to do. You're so happy when you sing and play and write music Bella why wont you let yourself be happy? Edward is just another case of you ignoring what you want because you want to fulfill someone else's dream. Your dad would hardly want to see you…"

"You don't know anything about me or my father Alice so fuck off!"

"Bella I love you, we both do, but we're fucking sick of you wasting your life like this. You're a good writer, but you shouldn't be trapping your passion between two covers, you should be out there singing your dreams to the world!"

"Alice is right Bella, some people are meant to be authors, and that's great, but some people are meant for other things, and maybe you're meant to sing, and write songs… maybe _that's_ you."

Rose and Alice stood together looking at me, pitying me. I hated it, I hated what I saw in their eyes, and I just could not let what they were saying to me be true. I wanted to be a writer, it had been my dream since I was a little girl, and I couldn't let it just disappear.

"I know you guys love me, and I love you too, but you're wrong. I want to sleep now, can you guys go? I just want to sleep."

Alice opened her mouth to say something but Rose put a hand on her arm and pulled her towards the door. She looked at me for a few seconds longer before giving in and turning to leave.

"Good night Bella, we'll come up and say goodbye before we leave tomorrow."

"Night girls, and thank you."

As they left my apartment I switched off all the lights and pulled the window open, crawling through it onto the little ledge above the garage door.

I pulled my knees up to my chest and sat, watching the rain patter on the street in front of the house, safe in my dry little nook.

"I want to write. It makes me happy."

Maybe if I said it out loud enough, it would quiet the doubt my best friends had stirred up in me.

There was a light on in one of the shops across the street, and I could hear a faint piano melody floating through the rain.

"It makes me happy."

**What makes you guys happy?**

**No song this week, sorry bout that! Although, in my mind, the few chords that Bella played early in the chapter before they tried to move the piano were from Hometown Glory by Adele. Check it out if you haven't heard it! **

**Please review and let me know what you think so far! I'd also love to hear any suggestions you might have for where we go from here. Lots of love! -GSR **


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